Who Are You Really?
by Darksouls18
Summary: Azazel created a second generation of demon children and Bella is one of them. Along with someone else from her disturbing past. Bella has more then a few secrets she's been keeping from everyone and it's about to get complicated. Being on FBI's most wanted, part of a strange gang and having strange abilities is the least of her worries when someone sets out to destroy the world.
1. They're Just Kids

**Sam POV**

Dean and I were sitting in diner eating when Cas popped in. We both jumped in surprise. "I bring news," he said in that overly serious tone again, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. When does he ever come just to hang out or say 'hello', doesn't even check in. Castiel only ever came when the visit served a purpose and it was usually when heaven needed something.

"What's up?" Dean asked, mouth full of food.

"We have learnt that Azazel had more psychic children then we first thought," we stared, how could no one possibly know that?

"How many more?" I asked, noticing how tense Dean got.

"Eighteen have been discovered so far and six have been destroyed."

"Do you know where they are?" I asked, frowning. "How come they weren't in the game?" I wasn't sure what to call it, I just knew that's where Azazel put us, and then made it obvious it was a competition.

"They weren't triggered when you were, and this generation is younger then yours was, we haven't been able to figure out why though."

"How old are they?" I had been around twenty one when the migraines started, any lower and they'd be kids.

"Seventeen," Dean and I shared uneasy looks.

"And you guys are killing them all?" I asked in disbelief.

"Their age is irrelevant, their abominations, nothing more," I glared at him, along with Dean. He had pretty much just called me an abomination.

"There are several that haven't been found, will you help us track them down?" he asked, giving us a level stare.

"We'll help, but were not letting you kill a bunch of kids," Dean said giving him a pointed look.

"There's a girl that resides in Forks, Washington. Her name is Isabella Swan, we haven't been able to get into the town without being attacked, there is a pack of shifters that live in a nearby community. Her natural ability is shielding, we've been unsuccessful in trying to pass through it."

"Who else?" I asked, debating whether or not we should consider splitting up.

"Another girl, Mara Petrelli. She lives in Chicago, she has no living family, and we were unable to find out where she lives. We do however, know she is very close to a man named David Castello, he owns a lot of real estate."

I spent the night researching their names. You'd think two teenage girls wouldn't be that difficult to research. But Mara had dropped off the grid when she was twelve and hasn't been heard from since. Isabella had also disappeared only to reappear back at her mothers after a two year period passed. I couldn't find anything on them during those times. Which struck me as odd, and I got the feeling there was a lot more to this then we knew. I was also getting the feeling that we were out of our league on this one, but then again, I'd felt the same way when we realized we had to stop Lucifer.

**-xxxxx-**

_Let me hold you _

_For the last time _

_It's the last chance to feel again _

_But you broke me _

_Now I can't feel anything _

_When I love you, _

_It's so untrue _

_I can't even convince myself _

_When I'm speaking, _

_It's the voice of someone else _

_Oh it tears me up _

_I try to hold on, but it hurts too much _

_I try to forgive, but it's not enough to make it all okay _

_You can't play on broken strings _

_You can't feel anything that your heart don't want to feel _

_I can't tell you something that ain't real _

**-xxxxx-**

**Bella POV**

"We can't keep doing this," Mara said silently, as all of us sat around in the living room.

"Doing what?" I asked, rubbing at my face tiredly.

It had been a long night, we were all exhausted, covered in blood, most of it wasn't ours, and battered to hell. We'd been attacked by two groups of people tonight and Mara had been scarily silent once they'd finally found me. During the chaos SWAT and the FBI created, Lochlan and his merry band of assholes had grabbed me. Mara hadn't had enough time to get me before they'd overwhelmed me, hit me over the head and drove off with me. Boy was I pissed when I woke up.

"All of this fighting. We nearly lost you tonight Bella, if we'd been a moment too late," she shook her head, running a hand through her hair. It was a clear sign that she was stressing.

"But you always make it in time," I reminded her. She always had, all of them do regardless of whose in trouble. We just sought each other out as if we had personal trackers in us or something. We'd always been that way and we always will be, unless of course one of us dies.

My words, though true and what i hoped would be reassuring, just went right over her head. "I think it's time we face facts. The whole world is gunning for us and sooner or later one of us is going to get killed. I'd never forgive myself for that, we wont always make it in time to save one another and when that day comes, one of us will be dead. It's time to split up," she sounded so calm and sure that for a moment I thought I'd misheard her. Everyone must've thought they miss heard because we all shared confused looks.

"Are you insane? No way!" I protested as it settled in my mind.

"Where will we go?" Tyler asked in horror, standing up instantly.

"Mara were stronger as a group, we need each other," Adam insisted, backing me up.

"Were family, we can't just split up!" Chris said glaring at her defiantly.

Brandon was silent, watching and calculating, like he always does. Sometimes I thought he knew Mara better then me, but that was impossible. Mara was my other half, and there was no chance in hell I was leaving her.

"We dont have a choice, being together is going to get us killed and we wont last much longer, especially if we lose someone. We can't function properly as a group and there's no chance in hell we'd still be in one piece if one of us died. Fuck guys, we almost got Bella killed tonight!" she argued, sighing heavily. "We dont have a choice and im not giving you one."

"There's always a choice, your just choosing wrong," Tyler said knowingly, and then just shook his head at her and exited the room.

"I'm not leaving you," I said stubbornly, preparing for one hell of a fight, despite my being the only one angry of the two of us. But that was the problem though wasn't it? We always wanted to fight, but Mara was still wrong, we were weaker separate, we never thought rationally when we'd been apart too long. Jesus, even a few hours not seeing any of them made me edgy and irritable. It was like being addicted to them or something.

"Then I'll leave you," she countered, sending me reeling in shock all over again. I practically bolted from the room in fear, straight up to ours. As if running from her would somehow keep her from leaving me.

Why would Mara want to leave me? Have I done something wrong? Was it my fault she was forcing us apart? It didn't make sense, nothing was making sense. I felt my eyes water as I found myself in our bedroom, a bedroom that would soon be just hers. Or no one's. I hated the idea of both. Where my home be, if these people were my home? If we all went underground my family would be lost. I would be lost. All of us had always been lost, but we were lost together.

I must've spent hours replaying the last few years over and over again in my mind, trying to find where I'd gone wrong. Had she stopped loving me? She still said it every day, knowing I needed to hear it, and she'd never lie to me. So what did this mean? For the first time in what seemed like a life time, I cried. I cried simply because it felt good to let go. Mara was everything to me and now she was abandoning me. What would I do without her?

Mara and our brothers were the only thing that made sense to me. Even though we were all quite psychotic, we still loved each other. What's a life without the love of your family, without any kind of peace?

"You'll live," her soft cool voice said from behind me. I hadn't even sensed her that's how deep into my own despair I'd gone.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I whispered, pain lacing up and down my entire being. Mara was my lifeline. I needed her as much as I needed to breathe. What was happening to us?

"Because I wont let who we are together destroy us," she said simply, a voice I hated during times like this.

I stood turning on her angrily. "You've already destroyed us, each and every one of us! Were monsters Mara, you created us and in way that made us belong together because there's nowhere else in the world for us anymore!" I shouted.

She kept that poker face on though, and I could see the pain in her eyes. She clearly didnt want this, so why? "I wont be the cause of your death Bella, and I refuse to sign off on it and let it happen knowingly. You deserve to find peace and we'll never have it again. This is how it has to be."

"Your wrong Mara! Dont you care about what we think? How we feel?" i asked desparately, trying to find a way to reason with her.

"Of course i care, and as you so adaquately put it, i created so yes, i know how you feel. We need freedome Bella, you know that, we all crave this. With the rest of the world hunting us, being tied down to one another. That isn't freedom. What happens when one of us dies? We get sloppy, we'll lash out. Someone else gets hurt, killed, the rest of us end up in jail or worse and any fleck of freedom we have now is gone forever."

"Dont do this to me Mara, please," I said, eyes watering again.

"Would this be easier if I made you hate me?" she asked eyebrows raised. "This is happening Bella. Tell me something, would you like to die?" I glared at her stupid question, "would you like to spend the remainder of your life in prison?"

"Stop asking stupid fucking questions," I snapped annoyed.

"Then listen to what I'm telling you! Those are your options if we stay together. Were too goddamn dangerous to the rest of the world, we have been since the moment we met. Sooner or later were going to die because of what we are. I fucking love you Bella but I wont be your downfall, you have to understand that."

"We protect each other, we always have! Let me stay with you, please. We can change, I'll change, just dont force me to leave you. We can go anywhere, obey the law, bake cookies for a church bake sale for all I care as long as I have you," I pleaded, hope glimmering at the thought of living a peaceful life with her. Even though I knew it was more or less impossible. We were sadistic and we thrived during chaos, peace wasn't exactly in the cards for us in the near future. Or ever apparently.

"I dont want you to change for me Bella, I want you to live, i need you to live," she said quietly, looking away. "Your life is more important to me then my selfish need for you."

"Will I ever see you again?" i asked, voice hollow and my thoughts pleading with her, she would know how my mind was spinning right now. She always just knew howi thought. An open book to her and a pretty million piece puzzle to the rest of the world.

"No." I swallowed thickly, that dull ache bursting in my chest as I realized what was to come was inevitable whether I liked it or not. "I'll hate you if you go threw with this," I said harshly.

She gave me that dark smile that I loved and yet hated now, "good."

**-xxxxx-**

_Oh it tears me up _

_I try to hold on, but it hurts too much _

_I try to forgive, but it's not enough to make it all okay _

_You can't play on broken strings _

_You can't feel anything that your heart don't want to feel _

_I can't tell you something that ain't real _

_Oh the truth hurts _

_And lies worse _

_How can I give anymore _

_When I love you a little less than before _

_Oh what are we doing _

_We are turning into dust _

_Playing house in the ruins of us _

_But we're running through the fire _

_When there's nothing left to save _

_It's like chasing the very last train _

_When we both know it's too late _

_Let me hold you for the last time _

_It's the last chance to feel again_


	2. Nothing Lasts Forever

_All my friends tell me I should move on,_

_I'm lying in the ocean, singing your song_

_That's how you sang it,_

_Loving you forever, can't be wrong,_

_Even though you're not here, won't move on,_

_That's how we played it_

_And there's no remedy for memory your face is,_

_Like a melody, it won't leave my head,_

_Your soul is haunting me and telling me, that everything is fine,_

_But I wish I was dead,_

_Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise,_

_No one compares to you,_

_I'm scared that you won't be waiting on the other side_

_But there's no you, except in my dreams tonight,_

_I don't wanna wake up from this tonight,_

_There's no relief, I see you in my sleep_

_And everybody's rushing me, but I can feel you touching me_

_There's no release, I feel you in my dreams_

_Telling me I'm fine_

**-xxxxx-**

**Bella POV**

**Two Years Later**

It had been quiet in the house all weekend. Charlie had gone on a week long fishing trip, and Edward normally didn't show up until later on in the evening. He was starting to frustrate me, I'd been having these crazy painful headaches, sometimes making me collapse or pass out. He wanted me to see a doctor, but I hated hospitals so I kept saying no.

I was getting dressed, getting lost in my thoughts and then I heard a pounding knock on the front door. I jumped surprised, and then froze, flinching when a gust of wind blew into the room, knocking things over all around me. Weird things like that kept happening. I hadn't told Edward or Alice, or even Jake about any of it, I was odd enough.

That and they'd all fuss over me like I was little kid. Mara never fussed over me, I couldn't help the sting I got in my chest as I thought about that. I hated thinking about her now, so lost to me, and yet every fiber of my being craved being close to her, to go look for her as much as it had the first week I'd returned to my blood relatives.

Last week I'd accidently blown up the microwave thinking about Charlie being out in the woods, hunting a 'wild animal' with a posse. It wasnt the La Push pack that was killing people though, it had been Victoria. I was scared she'd come across them, my attachment to Charlie was small, but it was there. The more I thought about it, the more I worried, and then the microwave just made a weird plink sound then just burst. It was hard to explain that to both Charlie and Edward. I'd tried to tell them the half truth, seeing as I couldn't lie for the life of me, and a half truth wasn't neccessarily a lie. It was an old microwave and it had passed on.

I grabbed my bag and went downstairs to meet Edward. I tripped half way down the stairs, catching myself right before I hit the top of a table. I turned as a breeze swept over the room again. It seemed to happen every time I got nervous or surprised, maybe a ghost was trying to push me around, god knows I've killed enough people to have one come back to haunt me.

I straightened myself up, staring down the hall to the back door. It was wide open, and a small trail of leaves had been blown in by the wind. The door was pushed all the way back and I could see straight into the woods. I dropped my bag, going over to the door. I had the eeriest feeling of being watched. Another wind came in from outside, blowing more leaves into the house. I looked down at the door knob, which was unlocked. That only peeked my uneasiness even more. We always locked the back door, because neither of us had a key for it. We never used it, we didn't have a reason to, and we always left it locked. I lock the doors and windows every night, and Charlie wasn't home, so who the hell opened it?

I closed it, and locked it, pulling on the handle to make sure it remained locked. I glanced back through the window and my breath caught. Someone had written on the window, it rained so much that it fogged up the windows all the time. 'Run Isabella, the angels are coming' I just stared, heart pounding and wiped off the writing. My head was starting to pound too, and now I just felt sick and terrified. I grabbed my bag again, before going into the kitchen to grab a knife. I jammed it through the door, satisfied when it was buried halfway through the wall.

I opened the door, Edward must've been waiting for quite a while. My bad. "Are you alright? I heard you fall," he said, looking me over for any sort of injuries. Again, I got the urge to roll my eyes and resisted. I'd walked off getting hit by a car easily, I think I could handle tripping. I'd gotten so caught up in who I was now, that I really was a klutz sometimes. As if Mara's training had been thrown out the window. Though she had made it clear that we dont show what were capable of while were underground. I bet I could kick Vicky's ass if she showed her face and we were alone. Oh god how I hoped for that challenge.

"I'm okay," as I thought about it I was glad I had fallen, it wouldn't make him wonder why my heart was beating so quickly.

I gave him a light kiss, before turning to lock the door. One of the best parts about being with Edward was how cool his touch was. It reminded me of Mara, she always seemed to run cooler then anyone else I'd ever met. I used to make jokes about her cold body temperature being from her cold heart. Now I kind of missed her cool skin, it had always been the sensation of being at home. Home is where the heart lies, how I missed my home.

"A few of us are going hunting after school, out of town. With all of the animal attacks, Carlisle's worried we'll run into a search party or something," I nodded, and when his words sunk in I turned to him wearily.

"Whose staying?" I asked frowning. With everything going on, I didn't want anyone to leave me here. I was scared now, not just confused or uneasy, but downright frightened. Someone had gotten into the house, and no one had noticed, not even Edward, who had been with me at the house all night. He doesn't sleep, he has vampire with heightened senses, and he could read minds and he didn't notice them at all. Alice had no visions of it, or we would've known by now, and the La Push pack running patrol around Forks and the surrounding area and patroling my house. Still someone had gotten through and not a single person knew, aside from me. I could've been killed, clear sign that I really needed to brush up on my own personal senses.

"Rosalie and Jasper will be here," _great, _I thought sarcastically. Jasper almost killed me on one occasion and Rosalie was a raging bitch. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to keep an eye on me.

"I can stay behind if you'd like," he said, noticing my expression.

"No, you need to hunt, it's just for the night isn't it?" maybe I could look up some old friends, see what the word on the street is.

"Well we all dont want to have to hunt too often right now, so we were going to go for the weekend, we'll back monday night," he said, trying to sound reassuring, it really wasnt. I liked having Edward and the pack around. I didn't feel like they could protect me the way my brothers and Mara could, but they helped. That and I could kick some serious ass when I needed to.

**-xxxxx-**

I really wasn't happy about this, I had told the Cullen's I wanted to stay at home. Not that it would make much of a difference where I was if someone attacked me. But at least I was comfortable and had privacy here. If someone showed up from my past, I knew my surrodings perfectly, could even bury the body and no one would know. I'm sure by the time the scent of another persons blood would've faded by the time the Cullen's returned.

Sadly, Alice had called and said they were going to come over in the evening. Which royally sucked. Rosalie just radiated contempt for me and Jasper would be so tense I'd probably start thinking he was a statue or something. It didn't help that the house was small either, you can't avoid all the emotion bouncing off the two even if you out in the back yard.

I felt like something was about to unfold, and in a disorienting kind of way too. I had been biding my time before I told the Cullen's about my history, seeing as it was a touchy subject. I mean, you can't just run around telling people you were part of this underground scene that ended up with all of us being on the FBI's most wanted, and interpol too actually, well we might as well say the entire law and intelligence community. Regardless, it was messy. It would take ages to explain and I got the feeling they'd never understand. You can't just tell people about what we were and expect them to get it. I hadn't batted an eyelash when Edward told me he'd killed people for 'dinner'. He'd killed criminals and people that deserved it sure, me? Not so much. I was far worse.

I'd killed people for ridiculous reasons. I recall murdering a librarian when she wouldn't let me take out more then two books when I had an overdue one. Not my proudest moment, but I had anger issues back then.

Charlie didn't know about the pack, because it had been during the period that I'd runaway from home and ended up in Los Angeles, which is where I'd met my true family. But good things just weren't meant to last forever and eventually everything went downhill and we all had to split up and go underground. I'd moved back in with Renee, and when I had a detective show up on my front door asking about where I'd been for a whole two years, I ran again. I could've been smarter rather then just jumping a few state lines and coming out here, it's not like I'd be difficult to find.

**-xxxxx-**

I finished eating, or more like lost my appetite and then started doing my homework. God how I despised high school. I didn't belong with the general public, and yet I kept up appearances. The phone rang and the ringtone told me it was long distance. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Isabella Swan?" the voice asked, sounding a little too formal for my liking.

"Whose asking?" I asked frowning. Why did he sound so familiar?

"I was wondering if you could come down to the police station, it's Detective Aimes, we met in Phoenix," _oh shit_. My heart began to pound and I couldn't hear anything passed my own hysterical thoughts.

"I-yes, I can do that," I said taking a deep calming breath. It didn't help a whole lot. "I'm just eating dinner right now, I'll be by in say an hour?"

"Yes, that would be fine," he hung up and I put the phone back on the charger. _Holy crap_. My mind was going a thousand miles an hour and I was trembling in fear. I needed to run. I had to run. I wasn't going to jail. No way in hell and I knew without a doubt that if they caught me, I'd be locked up for the rest of my life. We'd done horrible things back then, people died, innocent people. I'd killed people and I wasn't much of stickler for destroying evidence. I had to run. I had to run now.

The door opened, and I didn't glance over as I flew up the stairs. My foot caught on the last one and I went flying into the ground. I stumbled back up, and bolted for my room, closing it and locking it. I couldn't do this. I couldn't stay here. I needed to get out of here, I wasn't going to jail, I would never go to jail. Though that's not to say I haven't been arrested and locked up before, I've gotten out of maximum security prisons, that was with help. I was pretty rusty now too.

Someone on the door, "Bella, are you okay? Unlock the door," Rosalie said, jiggling the knob.

I didn't respond, just pulled a duffel bag from under my bed and then started opening drawers. The door flew open with a loud bang, and I frowned at the broken door knob. I didn't stop moving though, and just kept shoving stuff into the bag. I went into the back of my closet, and someone grabbed my arm.

I glared furiously, and ripped my arm out of her grasp. I didn't like when people touched me without permission, but that seemed to happen a lot now that no one knew me. Mara had killed people for touching me even just slightly roughly. She killed someone just for flirting with me with too, not that I encouraged them to, but I couldn't deny the thrill I got when Mara was possessive.

"I dont have time for this, stay out of my way!" I hissed venomously. Her and Jasper shared looks and I punched a whole through the drywall in the back of closet. I'd re-done the closet the first night I'd gotten here, hiding the emergency cache. There were shelves on the other side of it, along with a small safe. I pulled at the drywall, revealing an assortment of weapons, a dozen different fake ID's and lots of money. I liked my cash, credit cards were way too easy to track. Even I could track them and computers weren't my area of expertise, they were Christophers.

"Bella what is going on, what is all that?" Jasper asked, shocked and even kind of freaked out. But they hadn't expected weak little Bella to have an arsenal and a few grand stashed away in her bedroom. There expressions amused me.

I started grabbing as much money as I could and shoved that into my duffel bag too, then I grabbed most of my weapons and shoved them in there as well. "Bella stop!" Rosalie shouted, grabbing me and as she turned me to her I struck out, getting her on her left cheek. It was a reflex and now that I felt threatened I was on auto pilot. Auto pilot happened to be quite aggresive.

She went backwards, mostly in surprise and I continued giving her a dark look, I never liked her. "I said stay out of my way," I said heatedly.

"Your not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on," Jasper said, sending a wave of calm around the room. I brushed it off, I needed to stay alert, not complacent.

"I dont have time for explanations, alright, I have to leave," I said grabbing a cellphone. I started dialling numbers, every single one that matter was disconnected. It was expected but still disappointing. I swore, throwing my phone across the room and it shattered.

"Why? Whatever it is, you can't just leave. What about Edward, and Alice, and Jacob?" Rose asked, recovering from the punch.

"I'm in a lot of trouble, there's just too much you dont know," I said checking the time. "I never got the chance to tell you. Just let it go."

"What are you talking about?" Jasper asked so lost. "Who are you, the money, the weapons, I want answers before you go storming out of here."

"You want to know who I am, fine, I'm a wanted criminal, a cold hearted kill for the thrill murderer, satisfied?" I shot at them coldly. "Now I have to leave before interpol, FBI, SWAT, homeland security and god only knows who else comes raining down on me to either put a bullet through my skull or lock me up."

They just stared at me, following my movements as I pulled on my coat, trying to work through this little revelation. Finally, Rosalie spoke, "you need to call Edward, and talk to him, you shouldn't have kept a secret like this from us. You put us all at risk of being exposed. If someone showed up asking questions, they'd show up on our doorstep, your Edwards girlfriend, he could've gotten arrested just for associating with you. Why would you lie to us about something like this?"

"Fuck you that's why. You know nothing about me," I said hatefully. "Dont judge me because I didn't feel like cozying up and spilling my deepest darkest secrets to any of you. Are you really so surprised, look at how you treat me, of course I didn't tell you. I dont trust you, and the people I do trust are as far underground as people like us can get."

We all stood there for a tense moment and Rosalie glanced at Jasper and then back to me. "Your not going anywhere without us, and were calling Carlisle to le thim know what's going on," Jasper said slowly, lifting out his cell phone. As quickly as I could I reached out, grabbed it and then whipped it at the wall.

"No, your not calling anyone, anyone who was with me today after that phone call will be implicated and questioned. It wont be hard for them to find out you were here, and they'll track your phone records," I said, having figured they might come in handy down the road. I grabbed my bag, shouldering it and then going out to the car. They followed behind me, Rosalie crushing and tossing her phone it into the woods.

I wasn't entirely sure where I could go, but I wasn't going to tell Jasper or Rosalie, I didn't trust them not to call and tell the rest of the Cullen's where we were headed. I was suddenly very glad that Alice had been unable to see my future for the last few weeks. And if Jasper and Rosalie didn't know where we were going, it would be too fuzzy to figure out what was going on.

I decided to go find Mara. She had told me she was going to Chicago to visit friends for a while. Granted that was a few years ago, but David might be able to tell me where she may have went if she re-located again. We'd all agreed not to tell anyone where we were going, but Mara and I tended to throw the rule book out the window when it came to that kind of stuff.

I shouldn't have been so foolish. I should've known this sad little fairy tale couldn't last forever. It was only a matter of time before I'd been found out.

**-xxxxx-**

**Mara POV**

A loud beeping noise erupted on my right, and my eyes shot open. I rolled quickly, turning off the alarm. I frowned when the irritating beeping didn't stop. I hit the switch again, and it continued, getting loud. I hit the off button, glaring at it heatedly. I lifted it up and whipped it at the wall. That worked.

I rolled onto my back again, staring up at the ceiling. The sun was just starting to come up, the highest points of the sky were still pitch dark. That light blue morning sunlight covered the city and I sighed. It was four thirty and I didn't feel like getting up.

I came in late last night, drunk too, and David had flipped out on me for being gone so long, driving that intoxicated didn't help matters either. We'd gotten into a huge arguement, most of which I couldn't remember. He'd said something that upset me and I just went into my bedroom, and slammed the door shut before locking it. I think he came to apologize, but when he tapped on the door, I just pulled my head phones on and blasted my music.

I sat up, stretching slightly and then stood to leave the room. I heard something rumble, and I turned back to stare at my room. The rumble sounded and I realized what I was hearing. My cellphone, but I couldn't see it. I searched for it, finally finding it in the bathroom. The call had ended a minute after I'd started looking for it.

I stared at the name, frowning, it was from Wesley, a man I'd met six months ago. We didn't come across each other much, as he lived on the other side of town, and avoided most of the places I hang out. The only reason I had his number, was because he'd worked with Nick on some business project. I didn't bother texting or calling him back, figuring he'd call back if it was important.

I tossed my phone onto my bed, before leaving the room. Both David and Nick were up, having a coffee. "Morning," Nick said, trying to ease the tense atmosphere. David and I argued a lot, actually, a lot is understating it, we fought constantly. Something as simple as disagreeing on what to make for dinner could turn into a full scale fight.

"Morning," I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

"It's going to rain tonight," David said, not bothering to look up from the newspaper. I could hear the underlying tone of disappointment in his voice. He flipped a page and then his eyes narrowed. "You made the newspaper," he said acidicly. He folded it, and tossed it onto the table.

I stared at the page from where I was standing, and read the headline. 'Three officers die in a shoot out between two rivaling gangs'. That had happened last night, I'd mouthed off to Zackary in front of everyone, humiliating him. Then David and I had a fight over how much I was allowed to drink. I'd stormed out of the building and alone and Zack and some of his friends followed me. Luckily, a few of my friends had noticed them leave right after me, and they'd followed them.

Zack had gone and ran me off the road and into a restaurant. Which was the picture below the headline, my car wasnt in it, but there was a huge hole in the wall. I was still able to drive it, and I brought it to one of storage units and left it there. I ended up having to walk the majority of the way home, when he caught up to me again. I had been completely wasted when the fight started, and I would've gotten my ass kicked if Michael and Adrian showed up.

The fight was more embarassing then anything, seeing as I kept throwing punches the wrong way, and in the wrong direction, and I kept tripping and falling over everywhere, even down some steps. I couldn't even insult them without slurring my words. When the cops showed up, not a single one of us noticed, until they entered the warehouse that is. I remember we had all just froze, and then glanced at one another before all of us took off in different directions. Gunshots had gone off when Zack and them ran into more cops on the way out.

I was greatful I'd forgotten at least some of it, "would you look at that? I'm famous again!"

"Jesus christ Mara, one of these days your gonna get arrested and thrown in jail. You can't keep pulling shit like this, it's putting all of us risk. And know that there dead cops, they'll look harder."

"It wasn't me that shot them," I said defensively. "It's not like I run around looking for trouble, get off my back about it."

"Dont you? Being a smart ass and immature is what gets you into trouble so much."

I glared at him, "lay off, how was I supposed to know he'd track me, or that the cops would show up?"

"Of course the cops would show up, that's what they're for. You know exactly how Zack is, did you really think he'd just walk away with his tail between his legs?" he had a point. Zack had a bigger ego then I did sometimes, which was hard to believe.

"Well he should've known better then to piss me off. Im not going to back down just because he offended me, not that he really did in the first place, but you get the gist of it." David just gave me a dark look and I ignored it, going to my room to shower and get dressed. I had better shit to do then let David get me all worked up.

**-xxxxx-**

Wesley called again later that evening. This time I got to the phone in time. "Hey," I greeted, going through my latest emails.

"I need to talk to you, it's important, your in trouble," I rolled my eyes, according to everyone in the house, I was _always_ in trouble.

"Okay, what's up?"

"Tyler Harken is dead," I froze, sitting up straighter. Not Tyler, my mind whispered, Tyler was pack, he was family. He was one piece of a six peice puzzle. He continued when I lost my voice, "He was in L.A, his body was found early last night."

"Okay, do they know who did it?" Tyler Harken, had been one of my closest brothers, before we all had to split up and make a run for it. I haven't spoken to any of them in a few years, but I assumed everyone was okay, or else I'd have police come looking for me. Not that anyone knew exactly where I was. I used a fake alias for everything I did.

"No, his neck was snapped, but there's a bigger problem. He had an unmarked package addressed to David, but it was in your name, you real name. He never got to send it out, but it was another list of names, and then a bunch of pages with handwriting, none of it was in english, and I've never read it. I think it's latin, but I'm not sure. The police had confiscated it, but I stole it this afternoon."

I swallowed thickly, "why did you wait all day to call and tell me that?"

"Because I have problems of my own. They caught me on camera," I rolled my eyes. Of course he was video taped, he always did half ass everything. "Meet me and I'll give you the envelope."

"I thought you were in L.A," I said confused. I couldn't go back there, that was like walking through a trap door on purpose. I was reckless, but I wasn't that reckless, was I? Maybe I was. I probably was.

"I am, you can't stay there anyways, the police know who you are, and I wouldn't be surprised if Chicago already knows where you are. You need to get out of the city before you get caught," I frowned, closing my eyes. It was happening all over again.

"I'll call you when I get into L.A."


	3. The Fire In Your Eyes

**Sam POV**

We went straight for the chiefs house, which is where Isabella had ended up moving to. There was no answer when we knocked so we settled for going to eat, book a room and then back a second time.

"I dont like this, seems weird, how in the hell did no one know about a second generation?" I finally said, Dean wouldn't say it so I did. There was just something off about the whole thing. I got the feeling there was something that Cas was leaving out.

"Tell me about it," Dean said clenching his jaw. He hated going into things blind. "Think there evil? Jake and Eva turned out that way, and Andy's twin, and Max tried to kill his entire family, though they kind of had it coming. So you'd think the rest of them would be, right? I mean, most of them were, maybe it's not such a bad idea if we took them out."

"There kids Dean! Teenagers, your really going to murder a seventeen year old, just because they _might_ be evil?"

"Most of them were, and that's exactly my point there teenagers. Teenagers are so damn impressionable, so easy to break them, they wont know what the hell their doing. They just wont see the bigger picture," he said, trying to sound reasonable.

I think he was trying to convince himself it would be okay to kill them. I got why it bothered him, why it bothered me. Dean didn't want to kill any children, anymore then I did, all because they got screwed over by God, fate, their parents probably, genes, all kind of crappy people. It wasn't there fault they had demon blood in them. Both of us would hesitate when it came to children.

"Let's just wait and see, alright? We can't jump to the conclusion they're all unsaveable. You didn't kill me all the times you should have," I said harshly, and I ignored the look on his face.

If Dean would have just killed me when he realized I was losing my grip on my humanity, a long list of things wouldn't have happened. For example, he wouldn't have sold his soul, or gone to hell, or have to clean up my mess. He wouldn't have broken the first seal, I wouldn't have broken the last, Bobby might not be dead, Ellen and Joe might not be dead. Who knows, maybe hundreds of people wouldn't have been dead because Dean wasn't strong enough to do it.

We pulled up to Charlie Swans, and both of us were relieved to find that he was home. He was already opening the door when we got there. We introduced ourselves, showing our usual FBI badges. "I just talked to the FBI, if this is about Bella, I dont know anything," he said a sort of weary look in her eyes.

"Different department, why dont you tell us what you told them?" Dean suggested, giving Charlie a pointed look.

"I dont know anything, I was on a fishing trip when she left, Sam had to come get me," we shared a look. She left?

"Left where?" Dean asked.

"I would've said with Edward, her boyfriend, but none of them know anything and we found Bella's cellphone upstairs, there's a hole in her closet wall and a lot of her clothes are gone. I didn't even know she was wanted for questioning-?" I cut him off.

"Questioning for what?"

"Bella didn't live with me until two years ago, she lived with her mother in Phoenix. When Bella was around thirteen she ran away and no one could find her. She moved in suddenly a few years ago out of the blue and I didn't think any of it."

"But questioning for what?"

Charlie just looked so lost now that I kind of felt bad for asking. "Murder, robberies, a long list of things. Her and six others, one of the other six, Tyler something, he was found murdered. Someone broke into the office, and stole all of the evidence, but from what I understand, it was a list of names, and they didn't get a translater in for the Latin stuff. But Bella's name was on it, as well as a few others. I dont know anything else, the Cullen's might know something, she spends all of her time with them." He gave us an address and with that being said, he turned and went back into the house.

"Still dont think they're evil?" Dean muttered as we both went towards the car.

**-xxxxx-**

We went to the Cullen's house next, which made both of us glance at each other again. A string of expensive cars could be seen in the garage and the house was quite expensive looking.

We got out, and I got the oddest feeling we should tread carefully. "Can I help you?" a girl asked, opening the door. She looked really worried for some reason, but what caught me were her eyes.

"Yeah, were with the FBi, we need to speak with you about Isabella Swan," she frowned, staring at us for a moment and was about to close the door when a hand reached out from behind her, holding it.

"There hunters Alice, they can help," another boy said, nodding at us. "Sam and Dean Winchester?" he guessed and I debated whether or not to pull out the demon knife.

"How do you know who we are?" Dean asked frowning. He gave at us, giving me a sort of annoyed look and then stuck to staring at Dean.

"We feed off of animals, were a different species then what your used to hunting," Alice said, giving us a smile.

"What?" we asked totally lost.

"Dont be rude, invite them in," a woman said to them, and nodding for us to come inside.

I felt awkward standing in the house with a bunch of vampires. "Alice can see the future, I can read minds, neither of us can see or hear you though," the bronze haired kid said.

"You can read minds?" I asked surprised, I didn't know vampires could do that.

I tried to remember their names, as they introduced themselves. "So what about Bella, if you hunters, why are you looking for her?" Carlisle asked. The sound of wings surrounded us and Cas appeared next to us. We all jumped and I glared at him.

"The girl is gone, others are searching the town as we speak," he said to us. "You must find them and the others."

"We heard you the first time," Dean snapped, Castiel gave him a dark look and disappeared.

"Bella has demon blood in her, has since she was six months old, so do I. Angels are coming after her, to kill her, were trying to help," I said next, trying to fill them in as quickly as possible. "If you have anything that could help us find her.."

"She left with Rosalie and Jasper, we couldn't track there phones because they destroyed them. But I know there all together. I haven't been able to see Bella for a few months now," the little one, Alice turned and went to a table, handing me a piece of paper. It was pictures of the evidence found on the dead kid. "We went through all of the files that the police were talking about. The crimes that they think Bella and her friends committed."

"Holy shit!" I said suddenly, "Dean, Isabella knows Mara!" I said, showing him the list of names. We shared a look, unsure of whether or not that was a good thing.

"Why did she take off like that?" Dean asked, still flipping through the pages.

"A detective called her, but it's impossible. Bella isn't a murderer, far from it. She's the kindest most giving person I know," Edward said shaking his head. "She would've told us something like this."

"Then why'd she leave?" I asked giving him a small smile. "Maybe there are just some things that she doesn't think you can handle knowing."

"We told her everything, for her to keep a secret this big," Alice said, looking like she was going to cry. This was weird, crying vampires, man, the things we've seen.

"Let's find Mara, maybe this Isabella chick is with her. Call Cas and ask him-," I jumped at Cas's voice.

"Ask me what?"

"Would you stop doing that!" Dean said surprised, he handed him the picture. He scanned the names and then frowned.

"These are the names of the other children, have you read the Latin?" he asked, scanning the writing. Then his eyes widened slightly.

"What?" both of us asked, seeing the expression on his face.

"There not the abominations they were, there worse," I glared.

"Would you stop calling us abominations? Like your so great! God Cas, you can be such a hypocrite," I said frustrated.

"If they aren't demonic, what are they then?"

"Hybrids," he said frowning deeply. A hybrid, the first thing I thought of was the car. I wasn't even sure what a Hybrid was. "They are demonic, it's unclear what they are made for though."

He disappeared and I sighed, "son of a bitch," Dean said frustrated. "Let's go, I get the feeling Cas doesn't want our help anymore."

"I'm coming with you!" Edward said.

"Hell no," Dean said amused. "I am not taking a fanger anywhere with me."

_Words turn into blood and the blood keeps on pourin',_

_From every pour I wipe it off 'cause this just could be the moment,_

_Now someones gotta die and I'm my only opponent,_

_Cause I won't watch my baby cry so I keep on just goin',_

_Am I a man or a beast it's mother nature at least,_

_Watch humanity cease cause it's our human disease,_

_You gotta kill when you gotta kill yeah that's what they say,_

_And I can't go against God's will you better pray,_

_Cause I'm an angel a demon yeah I'm hell and I'm heaven,_

_I'm everything you couldn't be now you believe in the devil,_

_I gotta Pick up the pieces I gotta bury them deep,_

_And when the dirt hits the coffin just go to sleep_

**-xxxxx-**

**Bella POV**

"So who are you then?" Rosalie asked in a clipped tone, looking like she was about to snap someones neck. It didn't sound like a bad idea.

"I ranaway from home when I was thirteen. Ended up in Los Angeles, where I met this girl. She was everything I couldn't be and yet wanted to be. Who I am now, isn't the real me. I spent my entire life playing the role of the sweet little weak girl you see today. If it fooled the entire vampire world, I think it's safe to say I deserve a fucking emmy. But, if you want the details, we'd be here all day so I'll save you the trouble. I spent two years going by Isabella Pruitt."

"You met Mara Petrelli," Jasper said in horror, "I remember hearing about you guys on the news all the time. All of the stuff you did, the people you hurt."

"We did more then just hurt people," I said smiling faintly, "a king has to be both loved an feared by the right people and we were."

"There weren't really any pictures of you, and so many were distored, how did you do that?" Rosalie asked curiously, apparently not all that disturbed with my dark past.

"We have two of the best computer hackers you'd ever meet. Facial recognition, we tracked our patterns, when it finds a picture on the internet that matched ours over sixty percent it was deleted."

"Bella, you were insane, you were labelled insane by dozens of psychiatrists that studied your profile. Do you have any idea what kind of damage you and your friends caused all in the name of fun?" Jasper asked frowning.

"You know, CIA sent in a psychiatrist when they had Mara and I in custody, Mara tore that man apart when he told me I had abandonment issues, guess he was right," they stared at my smirk in utter disbelief, "we dont like when people upset us."

"What is wrong with you?" Rosalie asked in horror.

"You didn't really think you were the only monsters that went bump in the night, did you?"

**-xxxxx-**

I wasn't entirely sure where I was headed, but I needed to sit down and re-group. It'd been pretty awkward in the car for the last few hours. I hadn't told them much of anything other then the alias I had been under in Los Angeles, I just needed a moment to think this crap out. I also needed a new car, the Cullen's would be looking for this car and I didn't need them showing up and complicating things.

"Why are we here?" Rosalie asked, turning to give me a level stare. When they'd grilled me for more answers and I just snapped at them to leave me alone for a minute, they bothered me five minutes later. In the end I just turned up the music. I never had to deal with this crap when I was with my family. They understood the need to think in silence, to plan, scheme, whatever.

"I need to find some people, dont worry about it," I said getting off one of the main strips. I would've gone to a hotel but I didn't know if we'd be staying long.

David still had his same penthouse as he had the first time we'd met. Mara and I had come out here to party for a weekend, and we ended up coming across David. He spent a lot of time with us, but he was also trying to convince Mara to smarten up, always trying to tell her to get out of the life before it got too complicated. I was pretty sure he had a thing for Mara, but as per usual, she was blind to it all once I'd come into the picture. That or she noticed and chose to ignore it.

"Come on, you might as well come in," I said sighing heavily. I was aching to be close to Mara but I could feel that she was here. She was elsewhere and that was one hell of a cold unsurprising disappointment.

Maybe bringing them was a bad idea, it sure as hell felt like it. But they knew something was up, and I couldn't have them go running for the Cullen's the second I left town. I had enough problems to deal with it and I didn't need all of them getting in the middle of my mess, it had nothing to do with them. If we all got locked up, they'd go nuts, not that they'd stay in a jail long. But then they'd be all over the news like the others had been and the Volturi would notice and the next thing you know there being chopped into itty bitty pieces and im stuck in the big house.

I went up to the top floor, knocking on the David's door. The door swung open, revealing David, who I almost didn't recognize. "Let me guess, your here about Mara?" he asked, eyebrows raised, stepping aside.

"Yeah," I said, moving through the door. "Where is she?"

"Took off late last night, pretty sure she's in L.A, she got herself into a lot of trouble this week. Got jumped, three cops were killed," he said holding out a newspaper to me. I looked at the headline, frowning. "Bella, Tyler Harken is dead."

For what felt like ages I just stared uncomprehendingly. Tyler? Tyler was my brother, and he was gone, he meant so much to us. He was part of me, and he was probably the one who educated me the most. And he was gone. My brother was gone.

"Tyler's dead," I whispered in horror, chest aching painfully. Tyler was family, he was ours. Now he was dead, my brother was dead, and none of us had been there to save him. That only made me even more determined, now one was taking my family from me.

"Yeah, we didn't get the news until the cops showed up looking for her. You shouldn't be here Bella, the cops found a sealed envelope to this address, your name, along with Mara's and about sixteen other people."

My brain caught up with what was happening. "What are you talking about? Why is she in L.A? She knows she can't go back there," I said in disbelief. "Who killed Tyler? What list?"

He ran a hand through his hair sighing. "Yesterday night she got a phone call from a friend I did business with. He was in L.A, and he told her the news, Wes also stole the evidence, all it had were names and Latin writing. He can't get out of the city very easily, his face is all over the news and they have road blocks set up looking for him. After everything that happened three years ago, everyone thought you guys left. Then they found Tyler and know they think all of you are there, or at least one of you is, they think Wesley is just someone you guys hired to steal the evidence. There looking for you guys like your fucking terrorists. Which doesn't surprise me, considering you are."

"We aren't terrorists!" I protested angrily. "You dont know anything about any of us."

"Aren't you? And if you ad friends with anyone outside of your merry band of sadists it would be Alex and I. You dont think I haven't gone over and over all of your files backwards and forwards.

"Your mass criminals, you do realize that right? You go somewhere, you blow shit up, get people killed, challenge everything you can and that's your definition of fun. Even as individuals you have countless charges, page after page, and as group? Hundreds. Well guess what, your definition of fun is why all of you had to go underground in the first damn place. If you had control over your little addiction, none of this shit would be happening."

"You dont know anything about any of us David! You make it sound like were blood thirsty animals! We stopped, didn't we? We split up, we were family, and now my brother is dead, we should've stayed together, I told Mara that over and over and look what got us!"

"You didn't stop because you wanted to, you started a war, what did you think would happen? This whole world wants you dead and that's exactly what's going to happen when you show up in L.A."

"Were not the same as we were back then, we were kids, fucked up kids, but kids nonetheless. We have control now, at least I do. Dont go making accusations you dont have a right to. If you knew anything about what we were you wouldn't be so judgemental."

"You think you have control, your wrong. Look at you right now," he said scoffing at me, "your shaking, that same fire in your eyes, that fucking craving to tear everything apart. That feeling of rage and power inside you feel familiar? Sure, you can bury it as much as you want, but your just itching to let go of whatever image you created for yourself. It's a mask Bella, that kind of damage and blackened taint doesn't stay buried and no matter how much you tell yourself its gone, it's a lie."

I rushed him, shoving him up against the wall hard. I punched through the wall right next to his head, he didn't even flinch. Just gave me a cold stare. He was baiting me, I knew he was, and so did everyone else in the room. He wanted me to snap, but I had enough control not to.

"Im not going to find Mara so that we could go back to the way everything used to be. I want this all over and done with! I have a life, and every time someone comes knocking on the door asking questions about who I am, that goes out the window!"

"You think you deserve one?" he asked, eyebrows raised. I said nothing, I didn't think I did, but it didn't stop me from wanting it. "You dont own L.A. anymore and as soon as they realize Mara is there, she's as good as dead, and if you go looking for her, you will be too."

"I'd like to see them fucking try. We've taken on plenty of people, and im still standing aren't I? You've seen what were capable of. We had to be split up for them to finally start picking us off. And if being together is what will keeps us alive, then even better. It just goes to show how much of a stupid idea it was to run in the first place."

"Dont go Bella, no good will come from it," he said sighing. I gave him a sad look, realizing something about him.

"I never had anywhere to call home, no family that loved me for who I truly was until I met Mara and the others. You never had family, have you David?" he gave me a frown, "because if you did, you wouldn't be asking me to abandon mine and leave them to die."

_I look inside of myself and try to find someone else,_

_Someone who's willin' to die as to watch you crying for help,_

_I know that blood will be spilled and if you won't then I will,_

_My grave will never be filled it's either kill or be killed,_

_So let heaven be told that some may come some may go,_

_Where I'll end up I don't know but I ain't dyin' alone,_

_I keep on asking the question can I be saved by confession,_

_You see this blood on my hands at least they're still reachin' to heaven,_

_I got to pick up the pieces I gotta bury 'em deep,_

_And when you look in my eyes I'll be the last thing you'll see_


	4. The Jig Is Up, They've Finally Found Me

_Sweet dreams are made of these,_

_Who am I to disagree?_

_Travel the world and the seven seas,_

_Everybody's looking for something_

_Some of them want to use you,_

_Some of them want to get used by you,_

_Some of them want to abuse you,_

_Some of them want to be abused_

_I'm gonna use you and abuse you,_

_I'm gonna know what's inside,_

_Gonna use you and abuse you,_

_I'm gonna know what's inside you_

**-xxxxx-**

**Mara POV**

It was hard getting into the city. They had road blocks every where, and they scanned all of the liscence plates and the faces of the people passing. Man these guys really hated us, I thought smirking.

I had to park at a gas station when I'd seen the line up. I just knew what was up there. I sat in the car a moment, debating to how to accomplish this. I watched a transport pull into the station and grinned. I got out of the car, taking whatever weapons I could and then went to the back of the back of the building. The grass was thick back here and I tripped over a log.

I hit the ground, a piece of glass puncturing my arm. I lifted my arm up, staring at the trickle of blood slide down my arm. I lifted the glass out, throwing into the bushes. I heard a hissing sound and looked to my right. A bunch of snakes were moving my way. "Holy-," I jumped up and started running. They followed behind, only a little slower.

I grabbed a pipe up to the gutter and jumped up. I held onto the pipe, and began putting one hand in front of the other as I went backwards to the ledge of the roof. I turned, facing the wall and then swung my body and kicked. I did that a second time, with more force and speed and my body went flying up and around the ledge of the roof. I turned my arms quickly, flipping my hands to regain some grip before I slid down, one at a time.

I let out a breath and then heard the truck start up. I stood up, racing for the other side of the roof and then jumped, landing unsteadily on the back of the moving truck. I balanced out, and then quickly dropped and laid down flat. This seemed like a stupid idea, but it wouldn't be the first time I've had a stupid idea but done it anyways. It usually worked out.

We got through the blockades without much of a pause and he turned to go into the less appealing side of town. We turned onto a street with buildings still not bigger then one floor. We passed a restaurant when I got my chance to get off. We passed a large tree and I jumped for it.

I missed the first branch, catching the second one. I looked down, seeing nothing but a murky ditch. "I should really start thinking things through more," I muttered to myself. There were no branches beneath me, and I couldn't tell how deep it was. The tree jolted, shaking myself and the leaves and then smallest sound of a snap. My head shot to the center of the tree, seeing a bright green line. "Oh shit," less then a second later I was falling.

I hit the water, and then jumped out of the way when the branch came crashing down. I looked down, cringing as the smell reached me. "Great," now the smell would attract more unwanted attention, as if my face being splashed across the media wasn't bad enough.

I looked around thoughtfully, I needed knew clothes and I damn sure can't go anywhere during the day. I could break in somewhere, change, maybe see where the investigation on us was. I pondered what to do and then opted to go through with the plan anyways, "what's another charge to add to the list?" I mumbled, going towards the backyard of the house closest.

**-xxxxx-**

I stared at the man bound and gagged to a chair. No point blindfolding him, everyone would know who'd done this instantly. He was glaring at me as if he thought staring hard enough would kill me or something. It was kind of comical, as if one man scared me. I mean, the last man to scare me was dead, I'd killed him years ago.

I locked all of the doors in the house, and looked down at myself. "It's the smell isn't?" I asked him grinning, he glared even more. "So how does it feel to get your ass kicked by a seventeen year old girl?" He just glared, "your no fun," I said pouting slightly.

I pulled the tape off of his mouth, the first thing he said was, "your going to kill me, aren't you?"

I burst out laughing, "get over yourself, your not that special."

"Then what do you want?" he asked spitefully.

"You got any family, or anything?" I asked thoughtfully, mentally going over the list of 'To do's' when kidnapping someone, I was a little rusty on the etiquette.

"You touch them-," I cut him off.

"Quit whining, I just want to know if anyones going to be showing up any time soon," I said rolling my eyes.

"I-I have wife, just dont hurt her," he pleaded, broken record much?

"I dont give a rats ass about your wife, now when is she going to be home?" he stared.

"I dont know, I can't look at the clock," he shot harshly. I gave him a dark look and he looked a little frightened at that, "She's usually home at eight."

"Awesome, I dont have to worry about someone showing up right away," I said gagging him again. I looked at the plate of bacon on the kitchen counter and moved towards it. I popped a piece in my mouth, and was surprised to find it tasted syrupy. Did he put maple syrup on it or something? I didn't see any.

"Was this all you planned on eating?" I asked him frowning, "who just makes bacon of all things, scratch that, bacons awesome. No BLT? No sandwich? Just the bacon?" I tilted my head at him and he was looking at me like I had three heads or something. "I suppose it is pretty good bacon, what's with the syrup, does it come like that?"

He just stared as if he couldn't believe I was asking that, then nodded when he realized I was serious. I eat like everyone else, I thought frowning a little. "Is there a certain store I have to go to? It's pretty good," I said eating another piece. He continued to watch me as if he was hallucinating.

**-xxxxx-**

The safe house was about eight blocks from where I was, so I just walked, sticking to the trails. The news said they'd found my car at the gas station, along with a few weapons, and they couldn't check any of the camera feeds because they didn't record, or someone hadn't been recording them, either way, they couldn't tell which direction I'd gone in. But the paranoid city of Los Angelos, had still doubled there efforts since discovering the car. I got to the house in record time, and none of the lights were on, but I hadn't expected any to be.

I went in, cautiously, in this city you had to expect everything when you had as many as enemies as we did. I went through the dining room, into the kitchen and Wes jumped when he saw me. "Hey you made it," he said grinning.

"Yes I made it," I said nodding and sitting down across from him. He pushed a folder across the table and I opened it. I looked over the pages quickly, making out a few words of the latin.

A crash sounded behind us in the living room and I turned and pulled the door closed. "Tear gas," I muttered, looking outside enough not to be seen. SWAT was everywhere out there. "Shit," I muttered.

I pressed my body against Wesley's and the door flew open and slammed into the wall. They filed in quickly, searching different directions and I pushed the door open and both of us ran out the door and into the back yard. Gun shots sounded behind us and we only ran faster.

We ran across three streets until a car screeched to a halt in front of us on the fourth one. Bella met my gaze in shock, and I grinned instantly, hear soaring in relief and excitement. I ran for the drivers side, and she climbed into the back. "Hello angel," I greeted as I got in, not bothering with the seatbelt and Matt got into the passenger seat. She had two other stranges in the car, both with the same tone of horribly pale skin and blonde hair. I noted the yellow irises as well. Contacts maybe?

I flew down the road, and the cops followed and I took a hard turn. They were already being followed by the police. Someone must've recognized her. "What's with the blondes B?" I asked, making another hard turn.

"There family," she said, her voice sounding far away, both of us itching to reach over the set splitting us up and to touch. Not the reunion I'd hoped for, but I was still elated to see her.

"Ditch them," I said instantly.

"Were not leaving Bella alone without protection," I laughed a little.

"Bella can take care of herself just fine, and it's too hard to hide in a big group like this," I said in response.

"She's right, and the police know who the three of us are, there's no point in getting you two mixed up in it, I'll be okay," Bella said reasonably. "If you get caught, or even seen, your picture will be everywhere, even just a sketch, the Volturi might see it. We'll come find you later."

"What if you get caught," the girl said.

"We never stay incarcerated long and we've gotten out of worse easily enough. You can't tell anyone either. Everyone will be watching the phone lines at your house, your cellphones, everything. They'll trace it straight to you, you need to lay low, we'll find you," she said imploringly.

I handed the guy the folder, "dont lose that, I dont care what it takes, I need everything in there."

We rounded a corner on a hill and they both jumped out. We ended up in an area filled with abandoned buildings. I burst through a gate and we all jolted forward when we reached a small three foot ledge, and hit the front bumper.

"So I may have lied when I couldn't read those ledges, some interesting stuff in there," Wes said grinning, sound quite conversational and casual, enough to make a weird feeling of uneasieness to wash over me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, barely missing a wall in my surprise.

"It said that whoever kills one of you guys links you to them. They have to follow every order you give them, and they do it, because they want to please there master. You submit to them completely, and it's unstoppable power after that. Death transforms you guys, gives you strength. Sure you were great together before, but this? Individual power, nothing you ever dreamed of."

"Didn't know you were so kinky," I said smirking a bit, sounded like a load of bullshit to me.

"I wouldn't mind a pet of my own," he said, pulling out a gun. _Crap._

Bella swore, leaping forward and pushed his arms up. A shot went off, creating a hole in the roof. He struck out at her, and then I turned and hit him hard in his lap with a hunched over and I caught my breath, seeing a police car barrel right into my side. The car flipped, and glass exploded around us and the last thing I heard was metal being twisted and a lot of cursing.

**-xxxxx-**

I blinked, everything was fuzzy. I tried to move, finding myself upside down which explained the heaviness in my body. I could see concrete, and glass everywhere around me as well as burning objects. I could also smell burning tires. Slowly it all came back to me, the accident.

Bella collapsed in front of me, on the opposite side of the building. A moment later Wes was on top of her. He brought a knife down on her and she caught his wrist trying to keep it from sliding into her throat, I could see blood on her forehead, which explained why she hadn't killed him already. Pure fury ran through me as I watched Wesley try and slowly succeed in killing Bella. I hated when people hurt what was mine, let alone tried to take them from me. I struggled to get out of the car, pain wrapping around my body.

I was on them in seconds, "big mistake," I said and snapped his neck without hesitation, the knife clattered to the floor along with his body audibly. I stared down at Bella, holding my hand out to her. As I helped her up, I grinned a little, "I wonder who has the worst luck between the two of us."

We went to go to the door when police cars appeared and then we were surrounded. "Who cares, it's horrible luck when were together," she retorted.


	5. A Force To Be Reckoned With

_I will be the one that's gonna hold you_

_I will be the one that you run to_

_No, you'll never be alone_

_When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars_

_Hear the whispers in the dark_

_No, you'll never be alone_

_When darkness comes you know I'm never far_

_I will be the one that's gonna find you_

_I will be the one that's gonna guide you_

**-xxxxx-**

**Sam POV**

_"As you can see on the live feed, both Isabella Pruitt and Mara Petrelli have been arrested, and are currently being walked to separate cruisers. The body of Wesley Danvers was unconvered when the pair were apprehended, a recently known accomplice. It is unclear who took the mans life, or whether or not the rest of the gang members are within the city limits, but officials assure us that once interrogations are underway the case of the Pack will be closed," _the image was shaky, but there they were. They looked completely and utterly calm, and the camera zoomed in on a dark haired girl, labelled Mara Petrelli in the corner. She was staring straight into the camera, she smiled, it was sort of predatory, but it made me shiver.

A stirring grew in my stomach, as if she was looking right at me. I felt my mouth open slightly, she looked like a god or something, a goddess was more accurate, but it was all there. Pictures didn't look nearly as stunning as she did in real life, and I could only imagine how much more beautiful she would be in person. It was everything about her. Those dark coldless eyes, challenging and mischevious. Her long dark auburn hair, looking like it was on fire under the sun. I could just imagine the raw power and danger that you would feel standing next to her.

_"Thirty five minutes ago, SWAT raided a safe house within an outer community, Wesley Danvers had been there as well as Mara Petrelli, who was then picked up by Isabella Pruitt several streets over. The chase lasted over fifteen minutes when a collision ocurred, caused by Mara who had been driving."_

The re-ran the earlier news feed, summing up the story and how the investigation had changed since then. When they finished another feed started in the corner. A lot of people moved towards the cruisers as one by one they were pulled out. People were shouting and swearing, but you couldn't tell what they were saying very well. They had almost made it to the door when someone struck out and hit Bella.

Everything changed abruptly as she collapsed, and Mara was on him in a second head butting him. He hit the ground and a huge gash on his nose sent blood across his face, which was also disfigured. She'd broken in it, "_never touch her_," that was as clear as day. It happened in a few short seconds, but no one missed the smile on Bella's face when she was lifted up. Then they were hauled into the police station.

"What do we know?" I asked Dean, who was staring at the screen, as surprised as I was.

"It says they've been arrested before, and that they've gotten out on their own, not always together, but none of them stay incarcerated too long," I said shrugging as I continued going through everything we had on them.

**-xxxxx-**

**Mara POV**

I was seated in an interrogation room, with two way glass. I could see through it, sort of. I had pretty good idea of what was on the other side, police were always predictable that way. The door opened, and I leaned back, amused. Two men walked in and sat down, both wearing similar cheap suits. "How does it feel to be chained up? What do you have, four kidnappings?"

"The four that you know of," I said showing nothing but amusement. "I think one or two of them even enjoyed it. Personal kink perhaps?"

"Your name is Mara Petrelli, correct?" another man asked.

"If that's what you've heard so far, then yes," I said grinning.

"Your friend, Bella right? She says everyone calls her Bella, a sweet name for a sociopath," he said eyes gleaming a little.

I chuckled to myself, I'd started calling Bella that for that very same reason. She'd always looked so sweet and innocent, she looked like the weak link of all of us. Big brown eyes, the most convincing smile of sweet innocence. She was the exact opposite, or at least she used to be, a lot could change in a few short years.

"You really care about her dont you? That hit back there, nothing but pure possession in a moment like that."

"If you say so, Dr. Phil," I said keeping up my same amusement. Might as well have a little fun while I'm here.

"Most of your crimes were committed in relation of her, the more violent ones. A lot of the murders, witnesses said that you would go on a rampage if she was ever hurt, and vice versa."

"Huh, that's weird," I said thoughtfully, tilting my head slightly. "Here I thought she was the angry one. I'm more the ruthless one."

"Guess it's a good thing we have you in here then, you know your considered terrorists and with those kinds of people, well, there's a whole new set of rules. Things can get a little physical, but we'll work her over nice and good. Assuming she's still alive that long," I grinned again. Oh that was cute. If anyone in this world could take pain, it was Bella, we'd all had our moments, but everyone liked to aim at Bella because of her connection to me. It was the only way to hurt me the most, by hurting the girl I love. It was the same game as always, same shit, different people, different day.

"She can handle herself," was all I said, as if it wasn't a song that had been sung before.

"I dont think so, all she's gotta do is tell us a few things about you, and it has been quite a while since she's seen you. I dont think it'll take long before she starts pointing fingers," he said confidently.

"Oh no, my non-existent feelings, they've been wounded, whatever will I do," I said mocking them in a sort of hurt sing song voice.

"Mara Petrelli, you have quite a rap sheet, as in bigger then the rest of you and your little club of murderers."

"I'm shocked," I said sarcastically. Though Adam may be a close second, he was raised in mafia life or whatever back in New York.

"Care to fess up before we send you to the chair, make peace with God?"

Everyone looked shocked with my outburst of laughter. "Oh baby, God's left the building, that boy took a few centuries of vacation. I dont expect him to return all that soon."

"What do you mean by left the building? Are you religious Mara, afraid of God's wrath? Wouldn't be surprised to hear your a satanist either."

"Man your kind of slow aren't you," I said raising my eyebrows. His eye twitched and I smirked. "I just said God left the building, does that not mean I'm religious?"

He hesitated, "are you afraid of hell, cause that's where your going very soon. I dont think monsters like you get forgiveness."

"Is this not hell? I dont know, ugly face like yours could only be born of hell," he struck out, hitting me hard in the mouth. I licked my lips, tasting the familiar metal of blood, I had expected that, didn't think he'd be so sensitive though.

"Did I hurt your little feelings?" I asked smiling again. I profiled him for a moment, giving him a sly smile. "Your married, have what, a kid and a dog. Recently got that promotion you've been craving for years, your collegue here resents you for it because you second guess him all the time now. Though it's only fair, you get the promotion, and he gets to screw your wife."

They both sat there stock still and we stayed liked that for a moment. "I can be your therapist, first ones always free," I said sweetly.

I heard the shout of a man and everyone in the room jumped in surprise, aside from me. I could feel Bella, she was going to snap soon unless I got her out of here. If she did, then all hell would break loose. It was always dangerous letting your darkness take over in a building full of law enforcenment. One of the detectives left, going out the door, I heard yelling and shouting and then silence as he returned.

"Bella seems to have quite the temper, doesn't she?" he asked coldly. "When murderers like you kill cops, accidents just always seem to happen."

"Yeah, her tempers the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I said fondly, different memories of her rage coming to mind. She was untameable, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. She could be utterly calm one momemt and a heart beat later your experiencing her wrath first hand. She was a force to be reckoned with, it was nearly impossible to stop her when she saw red and damn was she hot when she snapped.

"Are you in love with her, you can tell me," he said, seeming more curious now.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I said smirking again.

"Back to that confession, how about it?"

I raised my eyebrows, not at all surprised when he leaned over and hit me again, right in the cheek and hard to. "How about now?"

I took a deep breath, and then gave him my darkest smile, he hesitated, "would you like to know how your going to die?" I asked curiously. "I tend to react badly when punks like you are all bark and barely any bite. I'm not someone you want to piss off, and I give you my word, that if you touch me one more time I'm going to rip out your heart and crush it in my palm as the life fades from your eyes."

He hit me again, and in less than two seconds I'd whipped the hand cuffs at the guard, and it slammed against his throat tightly. I shoved my hand through his chest, and pulled out roughly, crushing it and it burst like a balloon in my palm. "Told you not to piss me off," I said taking the gun and shooting the other man in the head, and then the guard, not in the least bit bothered with the fact that I had blood covering my hands now.

I shot at the two way window, putting two holes in it. That was all I needed though, I lifted the table and slammed it against the remaining piece. It shattered and I grinned, before hopping out. Someone shot at me and I grabbed a woman and shoved her towards him. I turned and then kicked open another door. I shot the first guard point blank in the head, and Bella had snapped a detectives neck as soon as he turned towards me, he'd been leaning over the table at her. I pulled the trigger and when nothing happened, I whipped it at him, getting him in the forehead.

"You didn't take the cuffs off?" I asked skeptically.

"I did," she muttered, and as the cuffs clattered to the ground we made a break for the door.

Everything was in chaos up here, someone shot at us and Bella grabbed a pole with an american flag in it and through it. As soon as everyone saw her do that, a few people screamed and then we were rushed. I lifted a key board from a desk, hitting them across the face with it.

I ran at the elevator, and punched the only guy standing in there. He hit the ground unconscious and a second later the elevator stalled out. "We suck at this, what idiot takes a goddamn elevator when there escaping?" Bella muttered, the power went out and a red light went on.

"Chances are there's going to be a huge line of snipers or something, come on, were going up," I said, taking the gun from her hand and shooting out two nails. I took a deep breath, and then jumped up, and the metal came off, and I grabbed the ledge. I pulled myself through, and turned to see Bella drive her fist through the button panel and rip out all of the wires. I held my hand out to here, and she grasped it.

"Climb up some," I said, using the ledge from the last floor to get some grip. She moved up next to me, and I moved over her, keeping her body shielded by mine.

"Just like old times," Bella said grinning, I looked at her again, seeing the familiar high in her eyes. I kissed the side of her forehead and turned to aim and shoot at the wires, the only keeping the elevator up. They snapped off and I tensed as something hit my back in a painful whipping motion, I took a deep breath, forcing the searing burn to the back of my mind.

Both of us looked down, watching the elevator go up in flames. I let go of the ledge, dropping most of the way and then catching one right above the mess of metal and concrete. Bella did the same, a foot higher then me and I swung my body out of the hole in the building. Thankfully we weren't too high up, and I landed on the top of a closed metal waste bin.

Bella dropped down next to me and we looked around, seeing cops pull up right next to the alley entrance. We shared a look and we kicked out hard and fast at the bin and it went flying down the alley and straight into the car.

"Where do we go now?"

"We gotta go down, we can risk being seen," I said, and both of us ran for a sewage entrance.

I dropped down, and gagged at the smell, the disgusting water soaking me up to my knees. Bella took the ladder, so she could close the lid and I looked up and down the drain. We decided to go east, and hopefully come up somewhere close to a friends place.

"What if he doesn't even live there anymore?" she muttered, after we'd walked for twenty minutes.

"I dont care, we still need clean clothes, a place to hide out and not to smell like a sewer rat," I said shrugging, taking her hand and intertwining ours together.

**-xxxxx-**

We ended up in one of the wealthier parts of town, and even ended up right outside of Alexanders house. Bella was shivering by the time we'd gone there. She was going to crash too, her high was always the most intense, especially when chances were that we'd end up dead or incarcerated all over again. She loved her adrenaline.

I knocked on the back door, waiting, and relief swept through me as Alex opened the door. He raised his eyebrows, and grinned. Then frowned, "if you plan on coming into my house, your not coming in smelling like dead animals."

I pulled off the shirt and jeans I was wearing, along with Bella and we both walked inside. "You know where the guest rooms are," he said, closing and locking the door behind us. I took Bella's hand, leading her up the staircase. I heard windows and doors locking one by one.

Bella and I always liked Alex, considering he only liked the two of us and Tyler. I wasn't too sure why he disliked the rest of our family, but his door was always open to us, and luckily, only the three of us knew that we had a place to hide here. Alex was one of those guys that was everywhere in our street life, and yet you could never figure out where he freaking lived. It was impossible to follow him. It was the perfect hiding place.

I let Bella shower first, finding our spare bag in the floor boards beneath the bed. Like I said, hide outs, with friends are better then your own. I dug through the stuff we had, debating whether or not to use the fake ID's. Then figured it would be too risky so I tossed them all out, then I went through our clothes and stared at Tyler's bag.

I wasn't sure who had killed Tyler, there was a long list of people who would love to be the one to succeed in ending one of us. But only so many people were stupid enough to do it, knowing full well that we'd come after them. Then the list of people actually capable of killing us was shorter, but separated and I had no idea who he's been hanging out with the last two years. It was like looking for a needle in a pile of fake needles. I heard the shower go off, and Bella came out in a towel, she gave me a small tried and relieved smile, before turning to her bag.

I pulled off the shirt I'd been wearing and stood with my back too the mirror. A long gash ran across it, I knew Alex saw it and wouldn't comment, but Bella hadn't. It went from the my top left shoulder blade down to my right hip, it wasn't too deep, but it was still bleeding pretty heavily. I touched the angry red flesh and hissed as pain seared my back completely. Now that the rush had worn off, I was exhausted and in pain. David had always said this would be my downfall.

I showered until I didn't feel disgusted with myself for trudging around in the sewers for two hours. I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment, before shaking my head and opening the door. Fortunately, Bella wasn't in the room, and I tried to get dressed as quickly as possible. I was clipping my bra on and flinched when it snapped shut, I heard someone catch their breath and I cringed as I turned to her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" she asked annoyed, and moved towards me. She spun me around, and I tensed as she touched the skin around the wound lightly.

"It'll be fine by morning B," I said hoping she'd drop it. She shook her head, rifling through a drawer until she pulled out a first aid kit. "I'm fine Bella, can we please just sleep?"

"No, we'll sleep when I know your not going to die of some infection because you were too much of a baby to let me help," she said irritably.

I stared at the bottle of alcohol in contempt, but when she pointed at the bed, I laid on my stomach anyways. "Your so difficult sometimes, you know that?" she muttered and I bit down on my tongue when she began dabbing at the cut with something that made me feel like I was on fire.

"What are you using?" I muttered at her.

"Tyler's little concoction of heal all," she said amused.

"It smells like mud and the ocean," I mumbled, noting that the areas she'd dabbed at were now feeling nice and cool. It still made me feel weird though.

"Beats the smell of infected skin," she shot at me triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah," I said and then nodded at Alex when he entered the room. He handed me a bottle of whisky, and I took long lasting gulp before passing it back to him.

"You guys got yourselves in quite a bit of trouble, haven't you?" he asked, turning the TV attached to the wall on.

"It's what were best at," Bella said frowning. We listened to the news reports, different witness accounts, people crying, rioting for answers, a long list of things. We were on every news channel we went through. Hours after Alex left we'd turned the tv off and sort of just laid there quietly, though Bella insisted I sleep on my stomach, much to my displeasure.

"We need a new hobby," I commented thoughtfully, after what seemed like a day long silence. We'd spent the last little while just laying there staring at one another. I was content with just touching her and watching her. We'd done that plenty of times, we didn't need words to express our emotions to one another. Having her close to me again was better then anything in the world to me.

"Yeah, we kinda do," she said smiling after a moment.

"Tyler's gone," Bella whispered, eyes tearing up.

I put on a brave face, giving her a sad smile and just pulled her closer to me, kissing her lightly. "I know angel, but were here now and we can't let it break us," she nodded once, knowing there wasn't a whole lot i could say. I sure as hell couldn't make a speech about him being happy up in heaven. We were ruthless murderers, i was pretty sure he'd gone in the opposite direction. Wonder what its like in hell.

"Why did you come back Bella?" she looked at me oddly, as if she couldn't fathom why I had asked that.

"You were in trouble, and a detective showed up at Charlie's and I ran," she said shrugging, and then looked back up to meet my eyes again.

"Running huh? Were getting good at that," I said amused, I hesitated, "we could run, like we had planned to. We could go anywhere in the world."

"It's too late to run, and as I recall, you didn't want to," she said, bitterness hanging off of her words.

I said nothing, and she rolled over to face the door, and away from me. It wasn't long before I saw her breathing even out, and I assumed she was sleeping. I shifted slightly, laying on my side, I was too uncomfortable on my stomach. I stared out the window, the moon hanging right over our room. "I missed you Bella, so much." That was the last thing I said, well mumbled, before I'd fallen asleep.

As I drifted I wasn't sure if I heard the last conscious moment correctly, it could've been anything from my optimism, to the whisky talking though, but I thought I heard the words, "I missed you too," before drifting off.


	6. To Define What You Can't Comprehend

Rosalie POV

After Bella and Mara ditched us we ended up getting a random motel room to wait for them to find us. I'd suggested staying somewhere where it'd be obvious to Bella, but neither of us could think of any place. We didn't know this side of Bella. None of us did, so we weren't sure what to expect.

We'd watched the news all night, all of the reports and videos that had been sent in to different news stations. We'd even seen the explosion at the police station. Bella and her friend had jumped out of a gaping hole in the side of the wall, managed to destroy a cruiser and kill two cops and then disappear around a corner. I wasn't sure what to think. If i didn't know any better, i'd say she's lost her mind, but by the looks of it, she's always been this way.

"God only knows what Edward must be thinking," i muttered, shaking my head and closing my eyes. Poor Edward, he throws the rule book out the window for this one human and now we find out the girl he's in love with is a fraud.

"No kidding, i still dont understand this whole thing. It's like we've been tossed into an episode of the twilight zone or something," Jasper said, finally pulling his eyes away from the tv screen. Seeing as we were in a crappy hotel, it was old, probably ten years old, and the image kept screwing up. But not enough for us to second guess what we were seeing.

"How could we not know who Bella really was? It just doesn't make sense. She's always so sweet, and self sacrificing, she always wants to help people and be the perfect person. She's a horrible liar, and shouldn't _you _have been able to tell when she was lying?" i said in a rush, i wanted answers.

"Rose the girl we know isn't real, she's said it herself, and so have countless other people. She's a good actor, i'll give her that, to the point where i think even she believed her past was just a part of imagination. The real Bella is laid out right in front of us. She's a stranger to us," he said sighing. "Which makes me wonder, if the girl we love doesn't exist anymore, and the girl that she really is goes against everything our family stands for, should we really be helping her?"

I pondered that for a moment, and sat back in the chair. I didn't know what to do, because Jasper had a point. The girl we love is dead and gone, the one in front of us is a dangerous, selfish murderer with no regard for anyone but who isn't a part of her family. She's putting us all at risk, just because we fell for her act and her lies. If she had really cared about us, well maybe not me, but everyone else, wouldn't she have told us?

"So what do we do now then? Go home to Carlisle and everyone else?" i asked, cause i really had no clue what to do next.

"No, i want answers, the rest of the family deserves answers, and were not leaving until we get them."

I had a bad feeling about this, but i didn't know what to do, so at least one of us had a plan.

Bella POV

I woke up to the sound of a shower being turned on. I rolled over, stretching a little. I laid there for a moment, wondering where i was when yesterdays events flooded through my memory. I groaned, and buried my head under the pillow. Man, we just couldn't catch a break. I hope someone made some coffee.

I sat up, glancing at the empty space beside me. The side Mara had been asleep on was covered in blood, it wasn't all that disturbing, considering it's not the first time we've passed out and both of us waking up covered in blood.

I remembered a huge fight had broken out at a safe house a few weeks before we'd all split up and Mara and i had both been shot. Someone had set fire to the safe house we were staying and all of us got hurt pretty bad. When Garrett showed up with a car, they'd shoved both of us into the backseat, considering both of us were unconscious, they woke both of us up when we got to one of Garrett's safe house, considering no one knew he had helped us until later.

_It was late when the sound of smoke alarms had gone off and i was still recovering from being heavily drugged at a club earlier. Which ended bloody for everyone when i disappeared, and Mara and the others went nuts, tearing up the entire city looking for me. _

_We woke up instantly. Mara and i both flew out of bed, running down the steps in nothing but shorts and a tank top. The smoke had scorched the entire ceiling of the living room. We couldn't see much of anything, smoke was everywhere, and it caused my eyes to water and my throat to constrict. i coughed, blinking past the smoke. _

_"Tyler!" i heard Mara shout, and as i turned, she had whipped a blade in Tyler's direction. Mara was distracted with someone hovering over Tyler with a gun, that she hadn't noticed someone to our left lift a gun. I shoved her hard as gun shots sounded and the hit sent me sprawling to the ground. He aimed at me again, only for Mara to come up behind him and snap his neck. _

_Brandon appeared, coming from the kitchen, he was covered in ash and blood and i could see burn marks on his left arm. He helped me stand, draping my arm over his shoulder, and Adam appeared as well. We all went for the front door, only for it to be blown open, and a huge explosion sent all of us flying backwards. _

_Brandon and i crashed through a door straight across from the main door, landing us in the back yard. I was pretty out of it for a moment, and Brandon didn't wake up at all, but Mara appeared a minute later, right behind someone who had come to stand over us. I remembered just staring as blood burst from him, and her hand appeared in the center of his chest. I hadn't even noticed that his blood ended up all over my face. _

_He collapsed, but all i could do was stare at her. She was furious, and that only made her all the more beautiful. All i could do was watch her, sometimes it just got me how magnificent she could be when she was angry. Knowing her rage was fuelled by the fact that were trying to hurt our family, that someone was trying to end my life, only added to her fury. She was like my dark guardian angel._

_A shot went off, hitting the ground in the space between us. She turned, and then jumped up, catching the ledge of the roof and pulling herself up. He pointed the gun at her, and another shot went off as she gripped the barrel. They froze for a moment, but she ripped the gun from him, and brought it down over his head. I watched her drop down next to us, and she whipped a knife at someone coming over a wooden fence separating our houses. Then she collapsed, unconscious, which could've been caused by any one of the injuries she had. I followed a moment after, finally letting the pain put me to sleep when i saw the rest of our family make their way towards us._

_I had woken up a few hours later, and looked around to find myself in a guest room at Garrett's house, Brandon was shaking us awake. "i need to know how badly your injured," he muttered, looking exhausted and in pain. _

_I nodded, and he flipped on the light, Mara moaned beside me and then woke up a second later. Brandon fished out the bullets, before cleaning the wounds and then he left soundlessly to look after his own. _

_"Should we shower?" she mumbled, as both of us looked down at the bed, that was now covered in soot, blood and dirt. _

_"I'm not getting up to shower, fuck that," i muttered, rolling over and pulling her into my arms. _

_"Were covered in blood, and not all of it is ours," she mumbled, laying her head on my shoulder lightly. _

_"Aren't we always?" i retorted dissmissively. I didn't care, we'd spent hours covered in someone elses blood before, how is this any different? Besides, it would be too painful and too difficult right now. We could shower in the morning and re-dress the wounds._

_She chuckled lightly, and the lights went out a moment later as both of us drifted off. _

"Morning," she said, coming out of the bathroom in a slightly small towel. I stared, watching the drops of water slide down her body.

"Morning," i said, standing abruptly, and then leaving the room quickly. I felt her gaze on me as i closed the door and went downstairs.

I went into the kitchen, finding Alex there talking on the phone. I poured myself a cup of coffee and then went into the living room to watch the news. I sat there, contemplating our next move when Mara joined me. She sat next to me, and i turned, lifting my legs up and dropping them across her lap. She rolled her eyes at me, but smiled lightly nonetheless.

"David emailed me," Alex said, coming into the living room with his own cup.

I didn't take my gaze off of Mara. I was debating how to handle the current situation. I cared about Edward, and Jake, and a long list of other people. But i wasn't sure of what exactly i felt for them, it seemed like a weird dream, everything back in forks.

Mara and i had always had the most unusual attraction to one another, an attraction neither of us could define, either because we didn't fully understand it, because we didn't care to, or because we didn't want to. Even now, to this very day i couldn't determine what it was that either of us wanted from the other.

We were family, that was what had come first, being family, being sisters, fighting side by side time and time again, relying on another. Then we'd become best friends, sharing things we hadn't been capable of sharing with the rest of the world, and even some secrets we couldn't share with our brothers. With each day our relationship progressed into the direction of lovers, but we had never really discussed it openly, but we also never denied it or confirmed it to anyone who questioned it.

We touched constantly, we just had to. If we weren't, we would just itch to be close to one another until we were. As a family we practically fed off of one anothers prescence but that had dulled and faded over the last few years. It made me wonder why this hadn't, if anything, the need to be close had only gotten stronger. It had been like that from the first day we'd met, neither of us even voiced the need to be together after our bizzare meeting. Other people commented on it, but it just seemed natural for us. I remember the weird looks our brothers had given us when they noticed we'd slept together in the same bed every single night after coming across each other.

But being separate for so long, i had assumed the co-dependency between the two of us would have become non-existant. But i was wrong. It was just as intense and just as present as it had always been. Everyone could feel it, strangers, enemies, it didn't matter. But even so, we had never verbally laid claim to one another. Sure we shared kisses and intimate touches when the moment called for it, it was just as natural as breathing, like a bird learning to fly, or a fish knowing how to swim, it was instinctive. We knew that we belonged to one another, but i still couldn't figure out what way we belonged to one another exactly.

Even if we were in the same building together, but on separate floors or something, and someone hit on us, or we flirted, the other one just knew. I suppose we were just overly sensitive to one other, hyper aware of the other that it just became like another sense, as strong as all the others we had. But it made normal people uneasy, and people who knew us, didn't care, because some things just were.

I realized both Mara and Alex were staring at me expectantly, "what?" i said confused. I hadn't even realized they were talking to me.

"I told you we need to hack all of the files on us and delete the pictures and any evidence pertaining to us. If the writing on those papers is translated, dozens of people will be gunning for us," Mara said tilting her head at me and frowning.

"Alright, were going to need a list of all of the copies printed too then," i said thoughtfully. "Track down every copy, tear them to itty bitty pieces, burn them, whatever. Should we destroy the copy that Rosalie and Jasper have?"

"Not right away, if what Wesley the Sleezeball said was true, then we need to be a hundred percent sure, which means were going to be investigating what he's talking about. Someone killed Tyler because he translated what was on those papers, i want to know exactly what he died for."

"What if it is true, Mara, and one of us dies?" i asked quietly, trying not to let on how much the thought of that scared me.

I felt her tense under me at the realization that someone might try to kill me and make me some kind of pet. She didn't like the idea of that anymore then i did.

She turned me, the dead calm determined look in her eyes made a shiver run down my spine and goose bumps rise over my skin, she only ever got that look when she was absolutely sure of something.

"If anyone tries to take you from me, i'm going to make them suffer till i see fit to end them. And if this whole world doubts my ability to protect you, then i dont have a problem showing them just how much of a bad idea it is to fuck with me."

Mara POV

It wasn't hard to track down the one copy that was made, Sam and Dean Winchester had it. When we'd realized that the Winchesters were involved it only made Bella more weary of the situation.

Based on what we've heard of them, they were murderers, as bad as us, only witness' claim that the two mysterious, co-dependant, brothers were hero's. So it kind of made us wonder what exactly was going on with them. Before we tracked them down, we decided to find out how exactly they'd managed to steal the information from the Cullen's, who had been the ones to actually print out the copy. Bella swears up and down there vampires, i remain skeptical, but than again, who i am to judge her for taking questionable hallucinogens?

I watched Bella hesitate as she dialled a Fork's number, the hospital, where Carlisle worked. That made me doubt her vampire theory all over again, what vampire is stupid enough to work at a hospital? That's just asking for trouble. That or the guy was a real masochist at heart.

Bella was using a pay as you go phone, so it would be difficult to track, and it was brand new, as i'd given Alex money to pick it up after we'd made this half assed little plan. After he'd handed the phone over, i spent twenty minutes setting it up, so that the number remained unknown to the rest of the world and was registered as non-existant after each phone call. If a phone company saw it, it would come up as a fluke.

"Can i speak to Dr. Cullen, tell him it's Marie Masen," i raised my eyebrows at the name, Marie was her middle name, but i didn't recognize the last name. Bella met my gaze and we all waited. "Carlisle, i needed to ask you a question."

I didn't hear what was said on the other line, but Bella had become tense, "i want to know why two strangers have the file you printed out," she said suddenly, voice going cold. Whatever he'd said had pissed her off.

"Hunters of what?" she asked in disbelief, and Alex and i shared looks. Bella hung up suddenly, eyes wide. She looked at me, sort of confused, "they're Hunters, they hunt paranormal stuff."

"What, like ghostbusters or something?" i asked frowning.

"Vampries, werewolves, and apparently demons, everything i guess, which means they probably know what we may or may not be."

We all sat there for a moment, pondering a new plan. "All we need is the file, if they've already gone over it, then they wont bother dying trying to keep it, right?" Alex asked, frowning.

"So what, we jump them, steal the file, set it on fire, and then just bail?" i asked perplexed.

"Yeah, i guess, we can ask Rosalie and Jasper to help us, at least the odds would be in our favor seeing as we dont know what to expect," Bella said shrugging.

"Do you know where to find them?" i asked her eyebrows raised.

"I think so, they'd go somewhere that would be obvious to me, but no one else. Alex, pull up a list of the more run down motels on the north side of the city. That's where we came in," she said, moving to stand over his shoulder.

"That one," Bella said, pointing at something. I stood up, moving to stand next to her curiously.

I stared in disbelief, turning to her, "how is that not obvious to anyone but you? A retarded monkey could figure that out."

They were staying staying at a motel called Rosetta Jasparr. We scrolled the pictures of the rooms and surrounding area and all i could think was, _wow, what a dump_. I guess they really were vampires, i didn't know a single living person who would stay in such a crappy place, and that's saying something.


	7. Ambushing Ghost Busters

Mara POV

We split up to get to the motel. I was used to running around behind the scenes so i made Bella go with Alex. They'd either be looking for two girls, or two girls and a guy. Bella and i also had enough to supplies to make a decent enough disguise, so i wasn't worried about whether or not she'd be found out if they got pulled over. My idea of moving around was also twice as fast, because i didnt have to stop or take streets, i just made a straight bee line for the motel and was there in under fifteen minutes.

I stood outside of the motel, smoking a cigarette when a door opened and a familiar blonde appeared. I grinned a little, taking a long drag of the smoke and then dropping it and going towards him. He noticed me in a second, looking around, probably for Bella. He stared at me wearily, wondering why i was here along, "where's Bella?"

"She'll be here soon, wasn't sure which room you guys got," i said, walking through the door he exited.

"Why aren't you two together, the news made it sound like you were attached at the hip," he asked behind me, closing the door.

"Usually we are, and neither of us is pleased about splitting up, but some things just have to be done," i said grinning as i recalled the look she'd gotten when i told her we weren't travelling the short distance together.

I stared at the other blonde thoughtfully, i went towards her. "So my girl thinks you two are vampires, i have to say your taste in housing kind of backs that theory up," i said amused.

The girl stood up suddenly, shooting a glance over at the other blonde, "this isn't our house," was all she said in response. I took another step closer to her, standing face to face to her and her gaze met mine. Her eyes were a dark amber color, and they darkened as i stood closer. I inhaled, noting the lack of a human smell. Most humans had a sort of natural scent, which is how i'd come across Bella in the first place. She'd brushed past me in a club and i found myself attracted to her instantly.

That and the obvious lack of having anywhere safe to go, which made me wonder why a kid like her was in a place like that in the first place. Once we'd started talking, i just found myself enthralled with her, and apparently she felt the same way, considering we spent the next two years never apart for more then an hour at most.

I turned around, facing the other guy, and noting the similar paleness and eye color. Maybe they were vampires after all. "Rosalie, no!" the guy shouted and suddenly i found myself shoved against a wall hard. Holy crap, this girl was strong.

"She smells amazing," she whispered behind me, and i frowned. I threw my head back hard, and she loosened her grip when the back of my head hit hers, taking a step back in surprise. But when she didn't let go of my arm, i jumped up and kicked off of the wall hard, sending us flying backwards.

We crashed into the table and she was on top of me again before i even got back up. I threw my hand out, hitting her hard. She went backwards and i jumped back up, and she rushed me again. The door flew open and everything went flying backwards, both of the blondes and myself, along with everything that wasnt nailed to the ground as well.

I hit the door of the bathroom, and bounced off of it and into the bed. "Jesus B! What the hell!" i shouted, rubbing my sore back.

"Sorry, i heard fighting, and thought they tried to eat you or something, that happens when i get scared," she said awkwardly.

"No they didn't eat me! You couldn't ask first?" i muttered, looking around at the mess. I turned to the blonde girl, "and you! Quit trying to tackle me!"

She actually looked kind of embarassed now, which made up for her trying to kill me, or bite me or whatever, i guess it was the same thing. "You alright?" Alex asked me frowning.

"Im fine," i said collapsing on the bed and sighing.

"Bella, we want answers," the male vampire said. Im pretty sure his name was Jasper, the other one was Rosalie, but if they weren't friends, i couldn't care less what their names were.

"Yeah, me too, that's why were here," Bella said, opening her bag and pulling out a laptop.

She came and sat down on the bed next to me, and i put my arm around her stomach before she put the computer on her lap. Alex just sat down across from us, but i also noticed the weird looks the blondes were giving me. "What?" i asked frowning.

"I thought psychopaths couldn't love peoplen, but you love Bella?" Jasper asked in disbelief.

"Because im not a psychopath, I happen to love a lot of things," i said dissmissively, and Bella shot a look at me and i grinned, "Bella just so happens to be on the list too."

"Bella i can feel you too, i know you love her, how come i've never noticed your longing for her, when you were with Edward," i tensed instantly, and turned to Bella. She didn't look away from me, and she just looked kind of scared.

"Whose Edward?" i asked evenly and she tensed hearing my overly calm tone. She hated when i got like that, said it made me unpredictable.

"Her fiance," Rosalie said confused.

"What the hell Bella?" i asked in disbelief, sitting up. "Your getting married? Why the hell didn't you mention that?"

"it didn't seem important," she said quietly, looking nothing but guilty.

"Not important? Everything about you is important, and you didn't think this would be something i would want to know?"

She shrugged, "were you even planning on mentioning this?"

She said nothing and i closed the laptop and shot at the other side of the room, effectively destroying it. "I want a fucking answer!"

She stood up glaring at me, "no i wasn't going to mention it!"

"Why the hell not?!"

"Because i thought you were going to take off running in the other direction when this crap was over! Believe it or not i had a life where i was! Sue me if i didn't spend the last two years crying about you! After all it was you that said i'd never see you again!"

"We weren't supposed to see each other again! Not unless you count meeting up in hell! We all went underground Bella, thats not supposed to just end over night!"

"Pleases you of all people should've known it wouldn't last! The whole country is gunning for us, of course it wasn't going to last!"

"So what you figured it wouldn't last so you went and got engaged? Are you serious? You know what, fuck this!" i turned to the vampries, "you want the girl you knew back, then we need to go burn the files some freaking ghost busters have. Then you can all go ride off into the sunset for all i care!"

I grabbed the bag on the bed, grabbing a gun and tossing it at her. She glared at her, and shoved it under her waist band and then grabbed my wrist. "Were not going after hunters when your all pissed off, you'll get someone killed!"

"Good," i said venomously and left the room. I heard Alex and Bella muttering quietly and i punched a wall, getting their attention and they came outside frowning. "I want this over and done with, either keep up or get lost."

I turned, and then moved up the steps to the roof of the motel. I was taking the roof, i didn't want anyone near me, i was too pissed off. I wasn't a hundred percent sure why i was upset, i just knew i was mad at everything right at this moment.

I made my way in the direction everyone else fanned out in all of us began moving south. The Winchesters were at slightly less crappy motel about five blocks from here. I couldn't believe she was freaking engaged, we'd only separated a few years. Shouldn't everything we've done taken longer to get over, to move past? I wasn't even sure what i meant, i just knew it shouldn't have been easy to move on from.

We'd never made some big speech or commitment or anything, but still. She had made it clear she hadn't planned on sticking around after this, and to add to that, she had made it clear she wasn't going to tell me about Edward. God, this was all messed up all over again.

I sighed, and then continued walking to the ledge of the roof of another motel. I saw Bella and the blonde girl standing together, they were talking quietly but Bella just looked upset. Alex and Jasper were talking in hushed voices, but Jasper just looked totally lost and shocked at the same time. Alex looked worried and kept throwing glances from the other pair to me, or pointing. I suddenly felt very self conscious, Alex was probably laying out our relationship for the vampire, and Bella was probably trying to explain her actions to Rosalie and me? I just wanted to fight someone.

I shook my head, and then moved to the ledge of the roof and then jumped, landing on the roof of the motel. I landed evenly, and heard the oddest sound, like something snapping in half.

I frowned, and then looked backwards, nothing had broken, but then it got louder. Then i realized what i was hearing, "uh-oh," i muttered as the surface beneath me gave out.

I landed in a heap of dibris and wood and coughed as dust settled. i tried to push the dust from my face and then someone screamed. I turned seeing a woman sitting at a desk. "it's Her!"

I turned to the television screen, seeing my face grinning back at my now frowning expression. The man jumped up and rushed me and scrambeld up and then kicked out. The woman started screaming again and i pulled the gun out. I aimed it at her, and pressed a finger to my lips. The man stood still, staring at the gun and me warily.

The door burst open, to find Bella, and everyone else staring at me. "What happened?" she asked in disbelief.

"I didn't do it on purpose, it just sort of happened! Why can't you freaks stay in normal places, you probably have money you couldn't stay in a good hotel? i'm a wanted murderer and i stay at freaking resorts!"

"Yeah were the freaks," Rosalie muttered and i sighed. I turned back to the woman, who was crying and the man who was staring at all of us like we were ghosts.

"Anyone got any rope?" i asked grinning. He rushed me now, and i turned the gun on him and he froze all over again. I gestured at the bathroom, and both of them stared. "if you dont want your brains to be splattered all over the floor, i suggest you move."

"What are you going to do with them?" Jasper asked hesitantly.

"Why? Did you want to eat them?" i shot at him amused.

"No!" he shouted in horror.

"Then dont worry about," i said and then hit the man hard over the back of the head with the butt of the gun. He collapsed, falling into the bathtub with a thud and the woman screamed. I covered her mouth and she quieted instantly. "No need to blubber like a little baby," i said smoothly.

"You haven't changed a bit have you?" Bella muttered from behind me.

"So what, at least im not a walking talking barbie make over," i shot snidely. When she didn't respond I glanced back to see her rip the end of a cord from an alarm and hand it to me. She did the same for a lamp, and i secured both of them separately in the bathroom. I turned the light off and then locked the door behind me, jamming it with a metal rod.

"Alright, there at the other end of the motel, thankfully," Bella said addressing everyone else.

"We find the files, and whoever gets it, destroys it, and i mean, set it on fire," she said, tossing lighters at everyone. "Were not leaving until that file is destroyed."

I pulled my sweater off, and Bella pulled her coat off. I stretched slightly, and then both of the vampires jump out of the whole in the roof. The rest of us went out the door, and as we got there the power was cut. "Jasper and Rosalie," she muttered at my pause, and i turned and kicked in the door.

I flew straight at the first person to rush us and we tumbled. We grappled for a minute before he was knocked unconscious. The other one was already out. We searched the room as quickly as possible and we couldn't find it. The file wasn't here.


	8. Sick and Twisted

"Are you freaking kidding me?" i muttered in disbelief, as we all re-grouped in the motel room. They were unconscious, and i wasn't sure how long that would last. We needed to question them, and the motel manager was checking on the guests one by one.

Jasper was helping me tie up Dean, and Rosalie and Alex were tying up the younger WInchester. I had to say, even bloody, tied up and knocked unconscious, they were pretty good looking. Imagine if they weren't in such bad shape.

"Hm," i said thoughtfully, and if sensing my thoughts Bella shot a glare my way and i stuck out my tongue in my usual six year old fashion. I can fantasize about whoever i wanted to, if she could go out and marry some random jerk, then i could whatever i damn well please.

"Should i go take care of him?" Bella called over her shoulder, from the window.

"I dont know B, wouldn't want to ruin your sparkling reputation," she flipped me off and disappeared out the door. I heard a small scuffle and then the sound of someone collapsing. She came back in a few minutes later and i sent Rosalie to turn the power back on.

I grabbed a water bottle, and then poured it over their heads one by one. They woke up,swearing at me and tied in separate chairs. "Hello boys, so here's the deal. You have a file with several names on it. We've successfully managed to destroy every file except for yours. Im sure you can figure out why were still here," i said, tossing the water bottle over my shoulder.

They looked kind of confused for a moment, "someone took it," Sam said, after they shared a minute long staring contest. Bella and i had looks like that sometimes, actually, all six of us did that. At the house you'd hear barely anyone talk, because all we needed to communicate was share a look or gesture in the slightest way. It used to drive other people nuts.

"Who took it? They got a name?" Bella asked frowning.

"Um, it was kind of an angel," Dean said. No one said anything for a quiet second.

Then I started laughing, everyone turned to me and i sobered up, "kind of an angel? Either it was or it wasn't," Bella said, turning her gaze back to them.

I turned to Bella, "your joking, right? You believe them? Sure, i'll buy that your stepford family is vampires, i'll even accept that these two hunt monsters, but angels, really?"

"You dont believe in angels? Dont blame you, i thought he was full of crap too," Dean said in agreement with me.

"Of course i dont believe in angels, people like me wouldn't be up and breathing right now if angels were real," i said rolling my eyes.

"Well, you shouldn't be, all of the angels are looking for you, they're trying to kill all of the kids like you and Bella," Sam said, glancing at her when she tensed.

"They can't find two teenage girls, that seems hard to believe," i muttered. "Fucking SWAT found us faster then they did. I'd be ashamed if i were them. Cant be that big and bad if they couldn't find me of all people."

"Bella's natural ability is a shield, they knew where she lived, but they couldn't get through it," Sam said looking at Bella know. She raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"That explains what shot us across the room earlier," i said tilting my head thoughtfully.

Sam glanced at me, "we dont why they haven't approached you yet. Too much publicity maybe."

I snorted, "yeah, that's the problem, i'm too famous."

"Make sense to me," Bella said shrugging and i rolled my eyes at her.

"So you said Bella and me, what am i then?"

"A murderer," Dean shot glaring.

"Really? Wow, i guess i was just born bad," i said grinning.

"Get over yourself, you weren't born to be a murderer," Bella said glaring at me.

"You sure? I'm just so damn good at it," i said giving her a dark grin.

"Your big mouth is what's good at getting into trouble, that's what your good at," she shot back at me annoyed.

"Hardly."

"What? You think i dont know about all the shit you pulled in Chicago, and by David's account, you didn't go looking for it either. Of course having a bad attitude and mouthing off to people stronger then you might have something to do with it," she said harshly. Alex was looking at us in disbelief, but Bella and i had gotten into arguement in stranger places and at worse times.

"He wasn't stronger then me! If your talking about Zackary, that was not my fault! He practically stalked me, while i was completely hammered and then jumped me!" i said glaring at her. "If i hadn't been so shitfaced when him and his friends ambushed me he would've left the building in a body bag!"

"That's not the point! You just couldn't leave well enough alone could you? When we split up, we agreed to stay off the radar! But no, as soon as you take off, your back to your old tricks! It's no wonder everyones looking for us!"

Rosalie and Jasper were just staring at us, yeah our fights tended to get peoples attention, considering a lot of it was confused and hard to make sense of sometimes. Sam and Dean were just listening in intrigue, kind of surprised too.

"Screw you Bella! Sue me for not going out and getting engaged to some douchey sparkling vampire!"

"You know nothing about him!" she said angrily, "dont be angry because i moved on after we split up! Your the one that said i'd never see you again!"

"I bet your wishing i'd been right, aren't you? Fuck Bella, you should've just stayed with your new family and your new life and your new gay sparkling friends! What are you even doing here! It's obvious you want to take off, so why dont you?"

"What so you can run off and get your stupid ass killed! You get so angry that you just snap, you wouldn't even notice if someone had a gun on you!"

"Says the one who flips like a switch! Pot, kettle Bella! Who was the one that snapped and killed two police officers because they insulted her yesterday?"

She rushed me and i was honestly so surprised that i backed up a step. We tumbled and she struck out, hitting me hard in the jaw. I rolled us, flipping us and hit her just as hard, then we were separated.

I glared at her, and she glared right back, and then i shoved Alex away from me. "You two are like a damn rollercoaster you know that?" he said frustrated. "Can you quit arguing until we get rid of the last file?"

Bella and i just glared at one another, and Alex addressed the Winchesters, who looked downright weirded out. "Angels, so powerful, right?" Sam nodded, "can they read Latin?"

"Yeah, Cas already read the Latin on the pictures," Bella and i both swore and then glared at one another again.

"Why, what did those pages say?" Dean asked frowning.

"Are angels, good friends or some crap?" i asked next, wondering how many we needed to kill, "how do you kill them? Wait, you said they were hunting us. Have they killed any of us?"

"Six that we know of," Dean said, and i groaned. "Why?"

"Were not sharing the punchline, but it ends bloody for everyone if were killed, why would they just kill us, that seems weird," i muttered to myself, and then i grabbed the file, i passed the pages to Bella. "Find them, call them, and tell them to run, give them a safehouse, one of mine."

"Yours?" she asked in disbelief. "But we've never used yours."

"That's the idea B, nothing is safer then my property, send them to the one i told you about when we were in Rome. When we get there we'll anti-angel proof the whole place, town included," she nodded and then took a laptop.

"Dont break that, please," Sam said to her frowning.

"Bonnie over here broke mine in two," was all she said.

I chuckled, "i guess that makes you Clyde."

She paused and then rolled her eyes, and went back to typing. We all sat quietly for an hour and i almost fell asleep too, when Bella said, "ten of the eighteen are dead. That leaves six other people, one of them is missing though, so im assuming he's already been attacked. Cellphone seems to be active though."

"This is messed up, angels are hunting a bunch of teenagers, why?" Rosalie asked.

"You dont know?" Dean asked frowning at her.

"Bella and i know what's going on, what's really going on, we've neglected to share the details, because the last time someone knew they tried to kill one of us for their own nefarious means, and i am not going to be some self centered jerks puppet," i said dismissively.

"You can read latin?" Sam asked surprised.

I sat up, eying him a moment, "there's a long list of things i can do. Being able to read and speak most languages happens to be one of them."

"So your not going to translate the writing for us?" Jasper guessed.

"Your not family," was all i said shrugging.

"Were Bella's family," Rosalie said.

"No, your not," i said rolling my eyes at her. Bella just pursed her lips and said nothing. "Even if you were, well, that still doesn't make you my family. Dont ask her to tell you either, she wont."

"Why not?" Jasper asked frowning.

"Bella knows what's at stake, and our brother died, probably because he refused to give any information, the rest of us will do the same without a second though, families just like that," i said shrugging. It was a fact. It was just the way we were.

"What's at stake?" Sam asked frowning.

I said nothing, but very quietly Bella said, "Mara is what's at stake. And the same goes for her. And if were going to be dependant on anyone, it's each other, not some jerk who wants a new pet."

"Oh no, someone wants one of the Pack as a pet, must be thursday," Alex said sarcastically. "How is this any different from any other problem you two have?"

"Angels want to kill us this time," i supplied.

"And the rest of the world doesn't?" he retorted. "Why don't you handle the situation like you do every other time?"

"Because it's not the same, we have to find almost a dozen random untrained teenagers who have some weird freaky uncontrollable abilties before someone else gets killed for being a monster thing, we have hunters looking for us," i said gesturing at the Winchesters, "angels, and god knows who else. Its not the same as a Pack problem. It's far from it."

"Then find the rest of the Pack, i dont know why you haven't started to look for them in the first place. You two can't take on the whole world by yourselves," Alex said rolling his eyes at the entire room.

"There underground Alex, where do you propose we look? They're not stupid enough to come back to L.A."

"Why not, you two were," he said snorting slightly.

"That's different, Bella went and got busted out in Washington, and Wesley called me to tell me why Tyler was dead, which coincidentally, got me busted in the process."

"How do you know they wont find out what you are two running from? That'll make them come home," he said reasonably.

"Im not running from nobody!" i said in disbelief.

"That's cause you suck at it," Bella muttered from behind me.

I turned and glared at her, "look whose talking. At least i wasn't trying to stay hidden while i kept getting caught!"

"That's not my fault!"

"B, you went home to mommy and daddy of course you were going to get caught, any moron could've found you."

"You weren't trying to stay in hiding? Did you want to end up in a maximum security prison?" she asked coldly.

"Who gives a shit, no one's ever been able to keep a hold of me anyways, i got too much skill," i said smirking in pride. It was true, i never stayed locked up long. It was always just a matter of time, and a matter of how quickly i got bored. People were just so easy to mess with sometimes. Just weak, mentally, very rarely did i ever come across a challenge. Usually when i died, they ended up close friends, hence my family.

"Your right, being a teenage girl makes people hesitate when it comes to killing a psychotic murderer," she shot at me. "Are you forgetting the time you spent two months in lock up and sentenced to lethal injection?"

I tensed and then glared at her, "they kept you so dosed up full of tranquilizers, it took you a whole six weeks to figure out what was going on around you."

"Still got out didn't i?" she scoffed at me and said nothing. Bella hated that memory. They couldn't get in at all when they realized where i was, or how screwed up i was at the time. I think it only freaked her out because i'd only survived on luck. She wasn't able to save me. I'd almost died. "And i'm not psychotic!"

"Please, your the defintiion of psychotic," she said in disbelief.

"If im suffering from some kind of psychosis then it just so happens to be the one all six of us suffers from, so that makes you just as sick and twisted as me," i retorted evenly.

"How does that work?" Dean asked frowning. Bella and i just shared a smile and said nothing.

"What the world doesn't know about these two and her little family is that their addicts, and not the normal kind either," Alex said pausing thoughtfully. "A rare addiction, and as you can see, if left uncontrolled, it can end very badly."

"Story hasn't ended yet," i pointed out.

"Addicted to what?" Sam asked warily.

I grinned even wider, along with Bella, it was sort of a twisted smile. An expression that most people feared, but it was a look that made us look like we were capable of anythng and everything. And we are.

"It's very rare, and usually ends in accidental death, actually, in every case we've researched, it always ended in accidental death of the person suffering this addiction. My family and i have surpassed the little error that got the others killed," Bella said tilting her head with a far off look on her face. "But to sum it and It's much more complicated then it seems, but flat out; were addicted to special form of Adrenaline."


	9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

"That's what made you mass criminals, your adrenaline junkies?" Dean asked in disbelief.

"Oh baby, your way off, it wasn't being adrenaline junkies that made us this way, it was each other," I said, Bella and I stared at each other fondly for a moment. It amazes me how the majority of us had been normal up until meeting one another. Five guesses as to who wasn't the normal one.

"How does that work?" Sam asked frowning. It got me that we were having and utterly normal conversation with them while they were tied to chairs.

"We sort of just stumbled upon one another. but having each other is basically what's kept us alive. Not all of us trigger at the same thing. So having one another to protect each other, its what's kept us alive. Most adrenaline junkies dont live passed thirteen or fourteen. But we've gotten good at plenty of things in the mean time, we learned quickly that we'd need every advantage we could get if we wanted to live, considering all of the trouble we get into. We've learned to do things most people can't. We can fight in dozens of different styles, and we've learned to fight with different things hindering us, from being tied up, to blind, to being outnumbered and the list goes on. Every now and again, one of us will fuck up when no ones around and say, send ourselves hurtling off a building on accident. Now that's when the real training comes in," Bella explained, and then cut off thoughtfully, probably remembering something.

Bella was clumsy, she could be thinking of a lot of different times when she's fallen or gotten hurt pretty badly.

I kept my gaze on her though, watching that same fond smile she got when she was remembering a particular moment. I decided to share another thing we'd learned,

"Adrenaline gives you the oddest abilities, including being able to think in a milisecond if the need comes. It can give you the most unbelievable strength, speed, senses, and in some cases, it's even given us the glimpse of otherworldly powers, reading minds, setting things on fire, moving things. We've learned to harness that power and use it, sometimes for hours on end, we try to avoid the wilder stuff unless push comes to shove, because it leaves us more or less useless for days after that. I remember once Adam wanted to test out how strong the mental abilities could go. He caused a city wide black out that lasted three days, cell phones, generators nothing worked. I think that was when they started thinking we were terrorists, but my point is, after that, Adam spent a whole eight days unconscious. Nothing we did would wake him up. But low levels of that stuff, mm, it's the best drug out there, and however long the high lasts, the longer everything else does."

"That doesn't explain how all of you turned out to be mass criminals," Sam pointed out.

I hesitated before explaining that part. "After a while we started to notice that we'd get aggitated or edgy when we weren't close to one another. We couldn't reach that high point unless we were together, or in pairs, whatever. We became addicted to each other, just being close to one another, nothing over the top, needing to be in close range. But like most addicts, when we dont get what we want, we tend to stop caring about right and wrong."

"One day someone get's the idea to rob a bank, we succeed and the rest of the city is looking for us. Some night one of us gets into a bar fight and gets arrested in the process, then the cop realizes he has a bank robber in his back seat and he gets locked up. The rest of us go looking for them and well, we go to extreme means to get them back. If someone gets in our way, then we remove them however we see fit."

"Jesus christ," Dean said, shaking his head at us, "that's messed up, and your all a bunch of kids."

"If your all so addicted to each other, why did you split up then?" Sam asked frowning.

"It's all about the mentality," I said quietly, at Bella's cold stare. "I understood what we were better then everyone else did. I just understand the way people think better than normal people should, the reasons people do things, I can profile you in seconds, know everything about them, from something as simple as what they like in their coffee, to there darkest secrets. I used that to separate us."

"What?" Alex asked in disbelief. No one knew about this, because this is what had finally convinced us all to break apart. Less then an hour later, everyone was saying goodbye.

I nodded again, "we couldn't stay together anymore, I realized that and I knew we wouldn't be able to just leave each other. What do adrenaline junkies need most?"

"Danger?" Dean asked confused.

"Freedom," Sam said thoughtfully and I nodded.

"We needed freedom, and as long as we were together, we wouldn't have it, as long as the rest of the world hunted us, we'd never be free. We craved freedom, freedom to do as we please and that's what I said to my family. That if we ever wanted to truly be free, then we couldn't be chained by what we were as a group. Slowly, they all came to that realization and then it was just a matter of packing. You can walk away from being adrenaline junkie like nothing, it's wanting to that's the problem. We had pure power as a group, but we were also a huge weakness to one another. No one likes a weakness, so all we had to do was walk away from one another willingly and that would be the end of it."

"You manipulated what we were to make us abandon each other," Bella said coldly, "it took me a whole year to figure that out."

"Worked didn't it?" I retorted evenly. "None of us wanted to die B, and that's exactly where we were all headed."

"I've got a headache," Dean muttered and I chuckled.

"Alright, I've got the phone numbers, were going to make one big phone call to all of them at once, you do the talking," Bella muttered to me. She connected the phone to the computer and began typing some codes.

One by one they all answered and I grinned, "ladies and gentlemen, before you hang up let me first say if you dont take my warning seriously your going to die. Put simply, your all not human and angels, yes angels are real, are hunting you down to kill you and if your still alive, its only because your lucky. I happen to be a little freak of nature myself, and I'm going to give you an address. I can offer safety, shelter and training. I'm not planning on dying just because life screwed me, I've forwarded a list of names to each of you, each of them are ten of the eighteen children just like me and just like you. Now if you look up each of these people, you will find just how serious this situation is. Because everyone that isn't in on this phone call is dead. Quite frankly, I wouldn't wait to look up a bunch of dead people considering any moment I could have someone try to murder me, but im not you. There's an address on your phone with the name Anna Peters in your contacts, if you want to live, go there, not tomorrow, not in a few hours, right now. Dont tell a single person where or your going or that I've contacted you, they will immediately become both a liability and their death will be on your hands. See you soon."

I hung up, and was greeted by a long silence. I thought it was an appropriate way to address the situation. I didn't give them my name, I gave them word for word instructions and i laid out the whole dilemma quickly and effectively.

"You think they'll listen?" Sam asked, still tied to his chair.

"They'd be stupid not to. I know how teenagers think, they love the idea of adventure and something more then what their lives hold for them. If their content with their lives, then I made it clear they'd die if they dont come looking for help. They'll show, no one wants to die," I said shrugging. "I mean, who wants to be killed by an angel of all things, that kind of spells out hell to me."

"Just because your killed by an angel, doesn't mean your going to hell," Sam giving me a weird look.

"Really?" I asked surprised. "Well you learn something new everyday."

"How do you expect all these kids to react when it's you that's helping them. I mean, there gonna kinda run for the hills, dont you think?" Dean asked skeptically.

I paused, thinking about it. That was a good point. The moment these kids lay eyes on me, there going to bail. I was portrayed as some homicidal rampaging awe murderer or something, and as of late, all of the video footage wouldn't really help my case either.

"I'm sure they'll be too confused and if they take off, and if they do, then whatever, not the first time I've kidnapped someone," I said dissmissively, it was a problem solved in my mind.

"Were not kidnapping anyone, let alone a bunch of seventeen year olds," Bella said stubbornly. She always hated kidnapping people, something about scaring them and hostages always being difficult to move around with. Couldn't blame her, they were a real pain sometimes, especially the real weepy ones. "We need them to trust us, forcing them to do something wont help."

"Slim pickings B, but fine, we wont kidnap anyone," I said pouting slightly. Even just to get them to the house, once everyone was there and we discussed everything, I was sure everyone would come around. "Whatever, we'll track there cell phones, when they get to the city, we'll pick them up."

"What about us?" Rosalie asked frowning, and then pointed at our two awkward hostages, "and them?"

I shared a look with Bella and she shrugged. She didn't care what any of them did. "We'll leave the Winchesters here, and you two can go home."

"Leave the Winchesters, I dont freaking think so," I said in disbelief. "I dont trust their kind! There coming with us!"

"Their kind? These are the first hunter's you've ever met," Bella said rolling her eyes at me.

"No, the crazy hell bent on revenge kind, screw being hunters. Look at them, these two scream anger issues, with a side of ego and pride. Not to mention their mommy, daddy, family, trust and god knows what else issues! There coming with us."

"That's a bad idea, just leave them here, there just going to get in our way, everyone will!" she said indignantly.

"It's a bad idea leaving them here, we dont know about angels or whatever, we dont have time to study up on them. There both like a walking talking encylopedia of all things supernatural."

"There not going to help us Mara! Were evil, and apparently were evil weird monster kids, they'll try to kill us the first chance they get!"

I turned to them thoughtfully, "you want to save all of these kids right? Maybe not me, per se, but these kids are innocent victims in all this. We want to help them, you do to, yes?"

They shared a look and then Sam sighed and nodded once. "Great, it's settled, were partners! Were a team, were like the Ninja Turtles!"

Bella stared at me as if I'd lost my mind, "the ninja turtles, really Mara?"

"Yeah, were all freaks of nature!" I said as if it were obvious. She just rolled her eyes in return.


	10. Be Classy When Making Death Threats

**Warning: Coarse language, violence!**

Mara POV

We untied Sam and Dean, after we gave them a clear set of rules.

Rule 1: Dont piss off Bella,

Rule 2: Never piss off Mara, (pissing off Bella, pisses off Mara)

Rule 3: Stay the hell out of our way.

We made it clear that they were more just along for the ride then anything. "You should go home, it's best if your out of harms way. I'll call you when we get settled in," Bella said, using a placating voice I'd heard her attempt to use on my dozens of times. I wasn't easy to calm down or compensate with.

"You need to talk to Edward, Bella, and soon, he deserves answers more then anyone else," Rosalie said evenly, taking her word. I hated him already and i hadn't even met the guy. I probably never would, Bella knew how i was and the moment i came face to face with him, he was dead. If Bella cared about him, she'd keep him as far from me as possible.

"I will," she promised, and i tried not to glare at the blonde.

They both turned to me after hugging Bella good bye, "take care of her," Jasper said imploringly.

"Haven't i always," i retorted dismissively. There wasn't a place on this earth where Bella would be safer than she would be with me. Despite the contiuous man-hunt for us. Everyone would tell you the safest any of us are, is when were together.

Jasper glanced at Bella for a moment, "take care of yourself Bella, really," he said giving her a final smile and then disappearing out the door.

I was still staring at Bella weirdly and she stared back for a moment. "What?"

"The way you are with them is disturbing, that's all," i said shrugging. She wasn't like that with us, we didn't need to say most things, we just knew. We read each other like books all the time. It came in handy when we were under arrest or in trouble.

"No, _the way we are is disturbing_," she corrected.

"Look whose talking, how long did it take you to convince me the way we were was natural?" i retorted in a pointed tone. She glared and then looked away.

"Just get in the car!" Alex said, frustrated with all of the arguing.

Much to my disapproval, Bella and i ended up travelling together. Alex said he'd go with the Winchesters in case they got any weird ideas. Mostly, i think he just wanted to get away from the two of us. Though i doubt sticking us in a car for two days was all that much better, but what do i know.

Getting out of the city was a little tricky, but after we stripped the dye from our hair, got some contacts and a decent amount of make up, we didn't get held up for more then a few minutes. I had to say, they must've been looking for us exactly, considering we didn't look all that much different. Different skin tones, two wigs, dressing like we were fifteen and we just looked like weird normal lame versions of ourselves.

"I dont think we should go to Seattle," Bella said a few minutes after waking up.

I glanced over at her, she ran a hand through her hair and i eyed her for a moment. "Your little prince charming wont even know were there."

She looked down at her lap for a moment and then looked up at me, "i'm sorry."

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. "Bella you dont give a shit about me, your just sorry i found out." I didn't care that my tone was cold and distant, and forced myself not to care when she visibly flinched at the hostility.

"Of course i-," i cut her off harshly.

"Drop it!"

Bella and i didn't speak a word the rest of the way to Carson City. When we finally pulled off to spend the night, Bella was so tense and edgy that she snapped at everyone. "What's wrong with you?" Sam asked her glancing at me.

"Fuck off Sam," she said glaring and then stomped off to go see Alex, who was booking the three rooms. Alex insisted we get separate rooms, along with getting crappy rooms. I could've paid for each of us to have a five star hotel room and here we were at 'Sunset Inn'. _How original, _i thought sarcastically.

"What happened?" Dean asked turning to me eyes narrowed.

I bristled a little and then shrugged, "that time of the month maybe. It's hard to tell with her, she's so goddamn hormonal."

"And your not?" he retorted and i shrugged, i wasn't getting into this right now. Let alone with Dean Winchester of all people. Just looked at him you could tell a lot about how he was, sympathy and emoting was not on the list.

They emerged from the building, and Bella was talking heatedly with Alex. As they got closer i heard the words, "-such a fucking unreasonable bitch!"

"Dont start Bella, leave him alone, he doesn't care whatever your crying about now," i said rolling my eyes at her.

"Why do you have to be such a heartless bitch all the time? I apologized and your still being a bratty child having a temper tantrum!"

I glared at her furiously, feeling my hands clench as i crossed my arms. "Yeah, you apologized and i said it leave the fuck alone, so do it," i snatched a key from Alex's hand and pushed past her, bumping our shoulders roughly.

"What did you expect me to do after we split up! Was i supposed to wait for you when you can't seem to decide what you want, even if your life depended on it!"

I ignored her, and continued walking up the steps to the room. We were on the second level, which i was more then happy with. I heard Bella come up behind me and spin me around. I shoved her hard, not wanting her to touch me when i was upset with her.

"Just talk to me!" she shouted at me, and i continued to walk away from her. I made it up the steps, unlocking the door. She slammed it shut behind us and continued to engage me in what she called a discussion and i called an arguement.

I emerged from the room, annoyed and sore. I closed the door behind me and noticed Dean standing there leaning against the railing. "Nice shiner," he teased.

My eye was sore, she got me right under the right eye, and it had already started to bruise. The girl liked to hit when she was angry. "Yeah well that's what you get for arguing with her."

"And let me guess, you slit throats instead of throwing punches?" he guessed in obvious disapproval.

"I'm not much of a pacifist. You piss me off, i simply cant trust you enough not to do it again," i said evenly. It was that simple, well most of the time. It had been after Bella came into the picture.

I knew it was ridiculous to act the way i did, but i just couldn't help it. It didn't really bother me, all of us were unreasonable and difficult to compensate with when it came to certain things. Sure my reaction to meeting Bella was unorthodox considering it made downright clinically insane, or more so then before anyways.

He frowned and then turned to look back out over the city. We were up on a small hill, so we had a slight view. The view was probably the one reason the place was still up and running. It wasn't much better then the place we'd found the Winchesters at. God, what was it with people and staying in crappy hotels?

"You up for a drink?" i asked curiously. I could really got for a drink right about now.

"Should you really be going out, were still pretty close to California," he said warily.

I just grinned and moved down the steps to the mercedes. I couldn't care less, i did what i wanted, when i wanted.

We got in and he accidently blasted the music. I flinched in surprise and hit the button quickly. "Sorry, everything seems so sensitive," he muttered.

"It's a hundred thousand dollar car, i'm not surprised," i said amused.

"Where are we going anyways?" he asked as we pulled out. "I didn't think you'd know anyone in Carson City."

I eyed him for a moment, "i dont know many people out this way. But i know everywhere worth partying at in the states."

"You say it like your not from the US," he said smirking.

"Dude, i'm Canadian," his face dropped and he stared at me as if i had two heads.

"Are you serious? Is that where your family is?" he asked in a curious voice.

"Dont worry about my family," i said getting overly tense with the conversation. I didn't talk about my family, it was a touchy subject and too complicated to discuss. Besides, they didn't matter anymore, i had a new family.

"Is your family dead Mara? Cas said they were, but they've been wrong before," he said in a hushed voice, as if he was sharing a secret, or trying not to scare off a kitten.

I gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles got white. "Stop asking about my family, becuase you'll get nowhere," i said in a clipped tone. He relented, looking more and more curious though. At least he'd stopped looking at me like he wanted to kill me.

I pulled up to a small run down building, lights and music was pouring out of the building and Dean looked unsure. "Relax, no one will here will bat an eye lash at us."

I moved around to the trunk of the car and then lifted the false bottom. "Might want to take this in with you," i said passing him a gun.

"Why?" he asked uneasily, and then shoved it under his waist band and beneath his coat.

"I never said this was a safe place to party," i said bemused as i but away my own gun. I shoved a butterfly knife into my shoe and then locked the car.

I led us inside, noting Dean's fear as the bouncer recognized me. "When did you move here?" i asked Taylor in disdain. "And why?"

"Carson's been a busy place, gotta go where the money is," was all he said shrugging, and i rolled my eyes and went towards the bar. We ordered some strong drinks, finishing the first three off quickly and then ordered some beers. We talked lightly, and i shared a few random stories, the least the violent ones, the funnier ones. Dean disliked me enough, he was already adjusting to the idea of working with me, no point setting back whatever progress we'd made so far.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice said behind me. I frowned and turned to face Daniel Reese. Daniel Reese was well known throughout my world, mostly for being a druglord. He was also incredibly annoying. Constantly hounding me to keep out of trouble, considering who Adam was. Adam was the son of an even more well known very powerful and dangerous druglord who hated what Adam was and blamed us for it. His father was also in charge of Daniel on that particular good chain and after the incident with his last 'employee' he wanted us all the more dead.

But it's a free country, i think he was just mad because he didn't have a successor to take over whenever he died or got killed. Adam never really cared about the family business though, and left them to be with us without a second thought.

"You shouldn't be here Mara, your pretty little face is all over the news."

"i can go wherever i damn well please," i said heatedly, already fed up with the conversation.

"Drawing all kinds of attention to our little world, it's never a good thing, especially when your connected to me and mine," he said dangerously.

"Dont threaten me you little punk," i said standing off of my chair. "You and your _family_ can kiss my ass, you idiots tried how many times to put a bullet in me and you've managed to fail every single time."

He grabbed me by the throat, shoving me against the bar. I grabbed his arm, and twisted it, and then kicked his legs out from under him. He collapsed onto his knees and before i could take his life i paused.

Within those short few seconds, i had six guns pointed on me and everyone was standing around tensely. I leaned down close, so that only he could hear me, "you know, i bet i can snap your neck and still make it out of here without a scratch."

His gaze skittered around his men nervously and he gave them a nod as he realized how right i was. The guns dropped, and i shoved him forward and onto the ground. "Stay the fuck away from me, dont forget about how many of you boys i put down for harassing me."

"Now now, be polite when threatening people, it's classy, haven't you learned anything," yet another familiar voice said. I spun in shock, and then wrapped my arms around the familiar face.

"Brandon," i breathed, heart soaring as my brother returned the hug. "What are you doing here?" he kissed my cheek lightly, a bright smile mirroring my own.

"We got word on Tyler, but we weren't sure what was happening, if he got caught by some old friends, or what," he said sadly.

"We?" i asked hopefully. It would be a dream come true if they were all together.

"Yeah, i tracked down Adam and Chris tracked down me after i found him," i stared in disbelief. They were all together. We could be a family again! I couldn't help the grin that spread across my lips at the idea.

"What are you guys doing in Carson?" i asked confused, face dropping at how strange a coincidence it was to come across them here.

"We were on our way to L.A actually, lucky we ran into you," he said keeping his arm around me. He noticed Dean staring and then frowned at me, "your dating Dean Winchester now?"

"The fuck?" i retorted in disbelief, "no. It's all one long story, his brother and B are back at the motel with Alex."

"How is she?"

i tensed, and he nodded, seeing the look on my face and knowing what it meant instantly. "Still picking fights like there's no tomorrow, good to know nothing's changed."

"Everything's changed," i corrected, taking a long pull of the beer, finishing it off and then waving for another one.

"How so?" he inquired, and then took my hand and nodded at a back door. All of the booths were taken, but we didn't want to talk in such an open space.

We walked through the bar, and down a dimly lit corridor. "Who was that back there?" Dean asked from behind us.

"Daniel Reese, he's a branch out from one of the Five Families. He replaced the last guy i killed," i remembered how it had all happened.

Bella was flirting with someone to piss me off after an arguement. She was trying to make a point. I wouldn't have some crazy heart to heart with her and open up, and she responded by saying i need to make up my mind and decide what i want because she was tired of me getting jealous. When i told her to leave the subject alone, she went out and flirted up one of the most dangerous people we knew. I got jealous, as we all expected and slit his throat in front of her, and refused to take her home when she ended up getting covered in his blood.

Two could play at that game, and i was better at games then her, she'd lose every time. Thankfully she didn't bring it up again. Everything was such uncharted territory and new back then i didn't know what i wanted, and i didn't like the pressure of her wanting a 'yes' or 'no' answer.

"Like the New York Mob and stuff, you killed one of them? Wait, they've tried to kill you and they couldn't?" he asked in utter disbelief.

"Nope," i said popping the 'p' a little bit. I turned a handle, and it was locked, i stood back and kicked it in hard. It slammed against the wall and the card game to a stop.

"Get out," Brandon said in a cold tone, and they vacated in seconds. I sat down at the table, taking a long drink and Dean said, "christ, your like a cockroach."

"Hey!" i said offended. "Dont compare me to a cock roach! I'm much more attractive then a freaking bug!"

"No, but your impossible to kill like them," i glared and he shrugged, clearly unbothered with my being offended. I rolled my eyes, but got over it anyways, though i wish he couldn't compared me to superman or something, rather then a disgusting insect.

I spent the next two hours began telling him everything we'd found out so far, everything that happened and anything else i thought he'd need to know. I left out the bit about what the old pages meant, and he caught onto the evasion quickly. But i gave him a nod, telling him i'd explain further later.

"Bella's still pissed off at the world huh?" he summed up after i told him about our recent arguements.

"You aren't really that surprised she went out and got a boyfriend, are you?" Dean asked incredulously. "You weren't supposed to ever see each other again."

I stared at Dean blinking, and then glanced at Brandon who was had the same unimpressed expression. Brandon understood because he was Pack. No one else could ever fathom something like this unless they were like us. But aside from the six of us, i didn't know a single person who had the same mentality we did.

"You dont know what's its like to be like us, and yes, i am surprised she did. I didn't go out and get engaged to the first douche who came along," i said stoically.

"Or maybe your mad because she moved on and you clearly haven't," he said reasonably.

Brandon and i shared looks, "how thick are you?" i responded amused. "If Bella had moved on, we wouldn't be the same as we were back then, and we are. You dont get over what we are like nothing. It's impossible to forget, and even harder to move past."

"Have you even tried?" he countered eye brows raised.

"I'm sure they did," i said gesturing at Brandon, who looked away guiltily, confirming my guess. "But as i said, it's not like a break up, or losing a family member. It's worse then that."

"Like being an olympic runner and becoming horribly disfigured and paralyzed," i stared at my brother, not liking the image he set in my mind. But it was a good comparison.

"Dont you think your overexaggerating?" Dean said unsure, he didn't seem to like the image much either. But it fit perfectly.

"No, the exact opposite in fact. Put it this way, were about five times worse then the way you and your brother are," he said thoughtfully. "Actually, better make that ten."

I heard a sudden loud shout and then a resounding clap like lightning and then shared a look with Brandon. It was a gun shot. We all left the room quickly, and i pushed past Brandon as we got into the bar. Everyone was crowded up against the window in fascination.

"Move bitches," i said, grabbing someone by the back of their shirt, i pulled them towards me and then shoved them to my right. I moved into the spot as everyone got out of our way and i froze.

Sam was face down on the ground, with two guns on him and Bella was standing with a cut lip looking eerily calm. A body was sprawled out next to them, who i recognized was Daniel and assumed Bella killed him. A gun was pointed at her face a few feet away, a woman was holding the gun. A woman who didn't know who Bella was, and clearly didn't care. She had tears running down her face, and she was staring at Bella with utter hate. I watched her arm shake and then she got that same determined look on her face. Her finger twitched towards the trigger.

She was going to kill her.


	11. You'll Always Belong To Us, And To Me

***NOTE: COARSE LANGUAGE, MILD VIOLENCE and SEXUAL CONTENT**

Mara POV

The oddest sensation took over as the sight registered in my mind. It was fury. Pure, raw, uncontrollable fury. As if something in me clicked in i watched as the gun in the woman's hand become a bright orange in under a second. Then she was screaming. She was screaming at the top of longs, a blood curdling sound and she continued to scream. We watched as the gun clatterd to the ground, charring it and setting the earth beneath it on fire.

We all watched in fixated horror and i felt both Bella's and Brandon's fascination as the woman skin began to swin and crackle. Her eyes were bleeding and bits of her skin ripped open, and streams of blood ran down her skin. She collapsed onto her knees and then just fell forward.

No one moved and then i reached forward and smashed my hand through the dirt speckled window. The glass shattered, falling to the ground level and i threw my body over the ledge. I dropped down in a slight crouch moving towards the woman curiously. I heard a thud behind me, and feeling my brothers prescence i didn't bother turning around.

I stood over the body of the woman, watching as her body began to collapse in on itself. As if someone had set fire to her from the inside in, like it was acid. The air reeked of burnt flesh and singed hair.

"What the fuck was that?" Brandon muttered to my right.

I knelt down over th woman who moments ago had a gun on my family member and i timidly reached out, and then pushed her body to face us. I fell backwards, mostly insurprise with what i was seeing. It was one of the most peculiar things i'd ever seen. I heard Sam take in a sharp breath and turn away in disgust. Brandon, Bella and i just shared looks of pure wonder.

All of us were thinking the same thing, _I had done that_. It wasn't a question either, we weren't in denial about the supernatural changes Bella and i seemed to be experiencing. We were up front about everything, taking everything at face value. No question, no doubt. It was a fact, one that Brandon and i found amazing. While Bella, along with everyone else around us feared instantly. _I had dont that to someone, i had burned them alive from the inside out. And quite painfully too._

I found it rather poetic, that Bella's ability was to shield, when my own was to destroy. Like two pieces of a puzzle. Two very abnormally shaped pieces of a puzzle. It made me wonder whether or not we were two fitting pieces meant to be joined, or whether we were just two pieces on different sides of the puzzle.

Bella was always innocent, her deceptive smile and unpredictable rage made her the perfect criminal. It was just her demeanor, the way she carried herself, it was just the way she was. She tended to give off this good vibe, a vibe of something to be cared for and protected.

It's what drew me to her in the first place. I saw beyond that the moment i laid eyes on her, i saw under the surface of something she had spent a lifetime constructing to fool everyone around her. I wasn't so easy to lie to in that way. I saw people for what they were and it always gave me the upper hand.

Bella was the perfect partner in crime that way. I could read people like books and was perfectly capable of playing up any role i saw fit. And Bella? She gave you that sweet, innocent, fightened, child-like, doe-eyed look and it would make even the most insane people alive hesitate. It left me in awe when she used that to it's full advantage. The girl knew what she was capable of.

A door opened behind us and we all turned to see Dean walk over, he stopped short in surprise and looked a little green. Probably the smell, rotting burning flesh did that. He moved towards us, after composing himself and then stared at the corpse. "You did that?"

"I believe it's safe to come to that conclusion, Bella sure as hell didn't," i said shrugging. I was calm now, felt much better now that B didn't have a gun pointed at her face.

"That's-," Dean cut out, at a total loss for words.

"We should leave, i believe i hear sirens," Brandon said, looking to east.

"Yeah, alright, let's bail," i said, shaking my head, i paused and then turned to Bella. "Why are you here? And why is that idiot dead?" i asked pointing at Daniel's decomposing body.

She bristled at the tone in my voice, "you took off! I didn't trust you not to do anything stupid while we were here!"

"That still doesn't explain why you killed Daniel! As if Adam's family doesn't want to kill us enough."

She glared at me, "he asked me if you were single and whether or not you'd be easy to get into bed!"

I gave her a look of disbelief, "so you killed him? Jesus, and you say i'm territorial."

"Well are you single? Are you available?" she asked with a warning tone seeping into her voice.

I narrowed my eyes at her, not liking how suspicious she was getting, "what do you think?"

"Fine, maybe you can use your magic powers and bring him back from the dead. Then you can ride off into the sunset and you can belong to that scum bag from now on!" she spat in comtempt.

"I dont fucking think so, she belongs to us," Brandon butt in glaring at Bella. He glanced at me for a quick moment, reading the unimpressed look on my face he said, "she knows that," he then turned back to Bella. "You do too."

Bella just looked away angrily and began to storm off towards the car. A moment later, four cruisers pulled into the parking lot. She froze and shots went off the moment the sound of a door opened. I shouted her name, rushing towards her.

Gun shots hit the right car next to us, as i wrapped my arms around her and spun her to the left, shielding her body with my own and i forced out bodies onto the ground. Gun shots hit the car barricading us and i sat up.

I looked around, seeing Brandon and the Winchesters gone. I wasn't entirely worried, Brandon would get out of the way, but not be far enough that he wouldn't be able to help us if we needed it.

"Mara Petrelli, Isabella Swan, show yourselves with your hands in the air," i rolled my eyes at the overly used line and looked around.

"We can scale the building next to us," she said quietly, looking around in concentration. I shifted a little and then glanced around the car at the alley.

"They have too much of an angle on it, we'd get hit before we got to the roof."

"Should we try and get to the ca-," she cut off as a huge explosion went off in the building. Glass and fire exploded around us and we jumped out of the way when a chunk of concrete came flying straight at us.

I stared at Bella as she laid on top of me and just stared at me for a moment. I stared, seeing the flames of the building in her eyes and blinked. There wasn't much sound that reached me, it was like the world faded away. I had missed this feeling. The way war had made us both feel.

It was like something would spark in us, the heat, the adrenline. It would all just press down around us, and as soon as we hit this incredible moment. It was pure ecstacy after that. The most euphoric feeling exploded in side of me, staring in my gut and working outwards, spreading across my body.

I heard sirens in the distance, screams and more explosions. But all i could see was Bella. Who was staring back at me with what was undoubtedly the same look. I reached up, both of us panting in the chaos and i tangled my hands in her air. Her lips crashed against my hard, and demanding. My body burst with more power, more energy, more untameable feeling of immortality.

Yes, Bella had always been my greatest trigger. But it was situations like this that just made it all the more intense. It could've been because we'd reach the same point because of each other. It could be because of the total chaos and destruction around us, and still knowing that not a single in the world could touch us when we were together. It could've even been the obvious tension of every kind out there was laid out between us. Or maybe because we hadn't seen each other in so long that it felt so overpowering, it did feel like it had doubled, but it was always all-consuming this way. But either way, it was moments like this that i lived for. It was the most fucking intense drug in the world, and Bella was the key.

I felt her break away from me, both of us soaring and panting as she pressed her forehead to mine. She reached out slightly, brushing her lips against mine as we both unsuccessfully struggled to catch our breath. "Bella," i breathed, feeling her body shift slightly as her name rolled off my tongue like honey. Everything was so magnified, so defined.

"We should get out of here," i said thickly, feeling nothing but my own pounding blood and her own laboured breathing. Oddly and yet unsurprisingly enough, her own breathing was the strongest thing around me.

"No, we should stay here," she said, causing my stomach to do flips at the needy feeling in her voice. She held my gaze, and i watched as that pure uncontrollable want and hunger set in them.

Regretfully, i looked around and saw Brandon running towards us. I took an uneven breath and she pulled away from me and into a stand. I turned over, needing the help to stand back up. God, my legs felt like utter jello. I leaned agaisnt it heavily and Brandon finally reached us. He saw the looks on her faces, and then smirked knowingly.

Bella intertwined our hands and we all made our way towards the car. Brandon had to drive.

We pulled up to the motel too soon for my liking. Bella and i had taken the backseat, and she'd proceeded to sit on my lap, straddling me and kissing me hungrily. The feeling was mutual, it was like i couldn't get enough of her suddenly. I wanted nothing but to feel every inch of her, just as much as i wanted her to touch me.

I felt her raise her body slightly, deepening the kiss and i let out a slight moan as her body pressed against mine. The car door opened and we didn't stop kissing, even when Alex said, "guys, seriously, you can't stay out in the open."

I groaned in annoyance, and then pouted as Bella pulled away and stumbled out of the car. I flew out after her, slamming the door shut and slamming her against the now closed door. I attacked her lips again, craving her even more.

"What's wrong with them?" a far away slightly thick voice asked, it registered as Dean somewhere in the back of my mind.

"There high as fuck right now," I heard Brandon say happily. It was always great watching one another get high. It was sort of like fondness, sharing a secret that only we could experience. And it was. Unlike most drug addicts, seeing others high when you weren't piss us off, the exact opposite in fact. Kind of like thinking, _'i know what your feeling, i can feel it too_'.

"High as in the adrenaline thing you guys get messed up on?" I heard Sam's equally perplexed voice. I could feel their gaze on us, but i just didn't care. I never cared if people saw us like this. It was what it was and we weren't ashamed of it, let alone ourselves. We were damn proud of it. Even though we hadn't done much to get here.

"Oh yeah, when these two trigger each other it's impossible to tell the outcome," Brandon said, and i could just hear the amusement dripping in his voice.

"How do you mean, looks pretty obvious to me what happens when they get high together," Dean muttered, an even thicker voice now. It hadn't occured to me that they were probably all wildly turned on watching us.

"Nope, not always, if they get into an arguement, all hell breaks loose, same goes if one of them is getting angry about something, more of a body count though. Or they just go nuts."

"How much more nuts?" Sam asked.

"You know, the usual, blow shit up, scheme and put together some wild plan the criminally insane couldn't come up with if their depended on it and have it done in an hour."

"Oh right, the usual," Sam in sarcasm.

But nevertheless, it was the same high as always, maybe not the same. The feeling never lessened, never needed more and more to get that same great feeling of invincibility. Another difference between drugs, it never took more to get to that high point. The same things, and if anything more fascinating and amazing, just because you know what's coming, but it feels like the first time all over again. Because it always feels new.

What made it better? No one else in the world could feel this way unless we showed them. They had to be special, to be different, unique, rare. We get to choose who can feel this way, who gets the privelege. We controlled who gets the knowledge and experience of this power because only we knew how to get here. It was undefinable, indescribable, kind of like love. You knew know exactly how to describe it, how to share or show someone how it feels. Because it's just that, something you feel, something that can't be told, but experienced.

I pulled back, Bella moaning at the loss of contact, and then grabbed her hand. "Let's go," i said thickly, and pulled her towards the room. I felt everyone's knowing look on us as we ascended the stairs and then slammed the door shut behind us.

I locked the door behind us, and as i turned, Bella was pulled my shirt off before i could even blink. I felt my gut tighten even more in expectation, seeing the predatory look in her eyes, the look of raw need and lust. Her set determination, even though she already knew she'd get exactly what she wanted.

Bella grabbed my hips and pulled me into her body roughly. I let out a suprised, 'oompf' and then a huff as she shoved me onto the bed just as harshly. "Holy shit B," i whispered, even more enthralled with her forceful touch.

She didn't get on the bed after me though. Instead, she lifted her off her shirt in a slow teasing motion. I felt myself get a little restless at the slow pace. She revealed her smooth, flaw less cream colored skin and i swallowed thickly at the sight of her perfect body. She moved onto the bed, straddling my body.

"I didn't like what that nobody said very much tonight," she said heatedly, anger sparking her eyes. I stared at her, feeling my body heat up under the possessive look. That look did funny things to me all over.

"I-," she cut me off harshly.

"I dont care what you think, or how you feel, Brandon's right, your pack. You belong to us, and more importantly, you belong to me," i stared wordlessly, mouth opening slightly and i felt my body shift as my lust peeked all the more.

I licked my lips, unsure of whether or not i trusted myself to speak coherently over the torrent of desire and lust inside of me. "I'm not joking Mara, i dont care where you are, or what your doing, you belong to us, and even if you dont want to, you belong to me, always." So matter-of-factly, as though she'd been saying something like 'water is wet' or 'breathing is fundamental'.

There was this pure, primal animalistic look in her eyes that sparked something in me. In less than a second i had us flipped and had her under me. "Funny you say this, Isabella, considering you belong to me more then you'll ever belong to anyone in this whole world. Never forget that, even if you go off and get married to some prick. Your mine, as much as i'm yours." Then i was kissing her again, just as possessively, as hungrily and as passionately as she had just moments ago.


	12. Welcome To The Madhouse

**Bella POV**

We ended up taking all three cars and leaving right away, as the cops were looking for the three of us. Now the rest of the world knew we were on the move and headed upwards. Which made going to Seattle more and more of a bad idea.

I had been so happy to be with the rest of my family, i thought i was in a dream. I couldn't believe it. After not being close to each other so long, it was like an athlete breaking their leg and finally getting the cast off or something.

I had tracked all of the cell phones once we finally got to the mansion. The house was four stories high, with gates around the entire property. There were cameras all over the fence, doors and window, and then some in the main rooms. I hadn't ever been here, but she had modern style decor across the entire house. The garden was huge, spanning out over the entire back yard, along with a pool and hot tub. There were balconies along every room.

I couldn't believe how big this place was. It would've cost us at least six months worth of money. That's if we did a heist once a month. But i always had suspected she somehow had more money then the rest of us. We were wealthy, but even when we'd all been holed up in the house, it was her house, and she had three cars back then. Her family maybe? She never talked about them though. No one had ever come forth saying they reocgnized her, so i was left wondering if it was some kind of big inheritance.

"You own this house?" Sam breathed, staring as we entered. She had to put in two different codes just get into the door. I figured she had a safe or some weapons in there she needed to kept hidden.

"Yeah, bought it four years ago," she said leading us in. "With help of course, it'd be weird if a thirteen year old purchased a million dollar home and then renovated it twice that."

Everything was very clean, and i wouldn't be surprised if the throw pillows cost over two hundred dollars. I noticed Sam and Dean looking uneasy. Probably not used to such an extravegent home.

"Bedrooms are on the top level, there are three on the third and three on the second. I want all of the gifted kids scattered, we dont need some kind of blow up and have them all accidently kill each other if there all on one floor."

"What are you doing?" i asked her frowning.

"i need to go over the security procedures, and then you and i are going to pick up the first four kids who are currently waiting in the city," she said nodding at me.

"What room do you want?" i asked her curiously.

"We get the master, it's on the second floor, there are two doors for it," she said, walking into a study and coming out with a key. She handed it to me, and then kissed me lightly, before going through yet another door.

**Mara POV**

One had booked a motel room, and was currently waiting, someone else was at diner, and two were getting off the plane at the airport. We picked up the two at the airport first, no point getting the other two just to go looking for them separately.

i parked, and we both split up to search the different entrances from the planes. I found Luke quickly enough, he looked more like someone from my world, but he wasn't. He did have quite a rap for fighting though. He watched me approach him and then his eyes went wide, recognizing me. He went to stand and i grinned at him. "That was you that called me?"

"Get over yourself, i didn't call just you, now be a good little boy and follow me," i turned and then glanced at him expectantly. "Just hear me out, then you can run screaming for the hills, probably get yourself killed, but whatever."

He eyed me for a moment and i just left him standing there. "When you called, i was at a party. When i got home, my father was dead."

I glanced at him, "sorry to hear that. it's a cruel world sometimes."

"Did you know he was going to die?" he asked, getting a hard tone in his voice.

"No, i knew you were going to if i didn't contact you, be greatful, i didn't have to help you," i said giving him a look.

"Why? Your a murderer aren't you? What do you care about some freak?"

"I'm a freak too you know, and i personally dont care much about you. I dont know you well enough to care about you, but i do know that if another one of us dies, shit will get worse then it already is," i said honestly.

I found Bella standing with a girl outside smoking a joint. How'd she get the pot on the plane? She passed it back to Bella, who smiled at us, before exhaling. "Michelle Weston, meet Mara Petrelli and Lukas Carver."

I smirked at her obvious unease, "you got the phone call too?" she asked skeptically. "How many people did you guys call?"

"We called you all at once, you just didn't the chance to speak. There are six of us left, of the original eighteen," i said leading them to the parking lot. "We have two more people to pick up."

"What about the other two? They haven't gotten here yet?" she guessed and i nodded.

"You two have powers too?" she asked, as we got into the car.

"Bella is a shield, apparently i can burn you alive with my mind, cool, huh?" Bella gave me a look and i grinned.

"Oh, come on, you must see the irony of that," she said nothing and i took her hand, intertwining them as we pulled out of the parking lot.

I suppose we should've thought ahead of time about the lack of space, but i more just wanted to get them back to the property as quickly as possible. I hoped they had the warding finished by then. I refused to let them use paint on my walls, so i gave them sealer to use. That's the same thing, just blends in, invisible angel proofing, demon too apparently. Angel on the inside, demon on the inside.

"How is it we can do these things?" Luke asked, bringing me from my thoughts.

"Demon blood, all of us have demon blood inside of us. There were generations before us that did, they were created by a demon named Azazel. So were we, but he's dead. I'm not sure what the plan for us was, but the older generation was pitted against each other. They wanted the best, so they made them kill each other. Whoever won got to lead the demon army."

"How many were there?"

"I dont know, but were younger too, they were twenty two when they started with headaches, all of us are seventeen," i said, pulling into a cheap motel.

A boy was leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette and i recognized him as Hunter Carrass.

He stared at us, instantly eyes narrowed and then he was up and bolting. "What a pansy," i muttered, getting out and then rushing him.

"Hey!" Bella shouted after me and i kicked in the door, only for him to turn with a gun in hand. Bella appeared and seeing the gun she panicked, sending him flying backwards and a single shot went off, hitting the wall beside me.

I picked up the gun, "you know, little boys shouldn't play with toys they dont know how to use," i said turning the safety off and tossing it back at him.

He struggled to sit up, and then groaned painfully, he'd gone straight into the bathroom and hit the porcelain sink. "What the hell was that?"

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to hit you so hard," Bella said grinning.

"You did that?" he asked, eyes flickering between the two of us. "Your serial killers."

"It's great isn't it?" i said amused. "It was us that called you, these two are like you," i said gesturing at Luke and Michelle. "As are Bella and i, and two others."

"Hi, so were what exactly?" he asked, picking up his bag and we exited the room. At least he wasn't as scared as the other two.

"We have demon blood in us," Luke said, glancing at me and Bella.

"Does that mean were all going to be like you?" he asked, panicking.

"I doubt it, it was a lot of outside influences that made us what we are, not whatever we were born with," i said shrugging.

"But you can kill people with your mind," Michelle pointed out.

"To be fair she burned alive from the inside out, that doesn't exactly mean i can kill people so much as whatever ability i have allows me to kill people when i'm severely pissed off."

"Great, as if you aren't dangerous enough," Hunter said snorting and rolling his eyes.

"Who else are we picking up?" Michelle asked, from being shoved in between them.

"Another boy, Jason Moore," i said glancing at Bella, "do you want to take them to the house? I can pick up the last kid."

"Sure, we agreed no kidnapping, " she reminded me.

"I promised," i said frowning at her, before parking. She let me off at the diner and i got out, when she did. As we met up in the middle, i gave her a light kiss and then went inside.

He was sitting in a corner, with red eyes and i raised my eyebrows, he had a young girl with him too. "Jason?" i asked, sitting down in front of him.

"Who are you?" the little girl asked, smiling at me.

"My name is Mara, what's yours?" He gave me a weary look and i took a drink of his coke.

"I'm Jessie!" she said, excitedly.

"Your the one who called," he said, a statement. "I bypassed your phone block. It took me a while, but i did it."

"What's with the kid?" i asked, watching her color a placemat happily.

"We had a visitor before i left," was all he said, a little bitterly. "My parents are gone. Jessie was at a sleep over, i barely got out."

"You look like crap," i commented and he gave me a dark look. "Your hurt?"

"Let's just get out of here," he said, standing and pulling the small girl into his arms. I nodded, and then tossed a bill onto the table and we left to catch a cab.

We entered the house, everything was waiting in the living room. Once we got the introductions done, he set Jessie down and she took off to explore. "Stay in the house Jessie!" he called after her, sitting down heavily. I took a seat beside Bella and she shifted so that she was in my lap and i grinned at her lopsidedly.

"So what do we do now?" Hunter asked, everyone sitting around quietly.

"We perform horrible and painful experiments on each of you," i said seriously.

"What?" Michelle asked in disbelief.

"I'm joking. We train you, teach you how to fight, use weapons. Sam and Dean here are hunters, they've been portrayed as murderers, but there not. There jobs tend to get them into trouble."

"Hunters?" Luke asked perplexed.

"We hunt things, vampires, demons, that kind of thing," Dean explained.

"Mara, Bella we have a problem," Chris shouted from the top of the basement stairs.

We got up, and followed Chris to the basement. "What's happening?" i asked, all of them watching a screen.

On it was a young boy, in very bad shape, calling for help. A cab was pulling away from the yard. It was Patrick Kingsley. "Find Danielle," i said going upstairs.

Chris followed me, and we both left the house and going into the yard.

"How did you find the house?" i called to him, untrusting.

"I have visions, and i saw someone pointing a gun at you at that hotel. I knew it had to be you that called us, because the boy holding the gun was one of the kids on the list," Chris and i shared looks.

"We can't leave him out there," i said sighing. I didn't like this, it was too weird.

I let him in, "what happened to you?"

"After you left these people showed up, they killed the clerk and some woman. They found me when i tried to run. I got away, my dad was a marine, he taught me how to fight," i led him inside, and then glanced at Jason.

"You may as well come too, i know your hurt," i said, leading him down into the security room. We had a pretty good infirmary set up down here. I was suddenly glad i had all bought all the supplies for the house already.

"So you get visions," i said, putting on gloves and going through some cupboards.

"All of you guys, and some other people, but their blurry," i paused.

"You see the others, the dead ones?"

"There dead?" he said in surprise.

"Yeah, when we die, we come back, bad i guess is one word for it," i said shrugging. "Take your shirt off."

Once i had both of them cleaned up, we settled them in, and then told them we wouldn't make any definite plans until we were all here. Danielle would be here by morning, and i sent both Chris and Adam to go wait for her at the airport. She was flying in from Boston.

Bella wanted to stay home, and she looked pretty tired considering. So i just caved and we spent the night watching movies downstairs. Everyone came in and out depending on what movie we watched. Everyone had migrated in for Zombieland though. It was like some weird dysfunctional family or something. It suddenly occured to me, that all of us were more or less, orphans. That was kind of sad.


	13. She Doesn't Care About You

**Bella POV**

I woke up to an empty bed. I frowned deeply, instincts turning to panic as i looked around at the unfamiliar room. But then i remembered. We were at Mara's house. I'd never actually been this house, i've never been to any of them. Something told me they were all just as high tech and expensive.

You didn't need to be a genius to figure out that this place was a fortress. There were any cameras in the bedrooms, but there in the hallways and next to every door was a touch screen that directed you to just about every bit of information you could get. Everything from the stock market to disagreements between countries to the temperature to who was in the house. It was impressive, but everything about her was.

I slipped out of the bed and went to search for coffee. It was still pretty early, the sun hadn't even come up. I half expected everyone to be fast asleep. The hallways were soundless. I couldn't hear any kind of movement aside from my own, and that was low in itself.

I was wrong, everyone was up, aside from Patrick who had been injured and sedated heavily. He woke up in the middle of the night thrashing, at first i'd thought it was a nightmare. But Sam had heard the commotion and explained to us that it was a vision. Rough considering all i got was a headache when i used my shield. Mara didn't care much when everyone who had woken up to his freak out objected to drugging him. Mostly because he'd ripped open stiches and she'd had to fix him up.

That kind of pissed her off, mostly because his room was next to ours and when he woke up freaking, so did i. I shattered all of the glass in the room on accident and both of us got cut when we got off the bed. Mara had lifted me up and carried me out of the room before i could even jump back on the bed.

"Morning," i greeted everyone, going towards the coffee pot.

Everyone returned the greeting and we all sat down to watch the news. "Where's Mara?" i asked after waiting anxiously for a few minutes. Usually she always just knew when i was awake in the house. She _always _came to see me, so where was she?

"There was a problem with the flight in from Boston, she went to meet Chris and Adam and 'handle' the situation," Hunter said, using air quotations.

A moment later the news changed suddenly, alerting us to a Missoula emergency. "_Authorities were informed of a terrorist attack early this morning, a young woman had boarded the plane with nothing a bag of clothing. She woke several hours ago hysterical, threatening to crash the plane if it wasn't turned around. It took six air marshalls to apprehend the young woman only to find no explosives on her. Airport security as well as Homeland Security have yet to find the device, even after a two hour search they have had no luck. She is currently being questioned by the FBI at this very moment. Officials have yet to confirm outside assistance, but-_," she cut off for a moment and her eyes lit up as if it were Christmas, "_we have just been informed that nationwide terrorist Mara Petrelli and Christopher Pruitt, who until know was believed to be underground, have just been sighted several blocks from FBI headquarters_."

"Oh my god," i breathed wide eyed, gripping the ledge of the arm chair tightly.

_"There have been no other associates sighted within the city limits, but the police are asking any one who recognizes the other three gang members, Isabella Swan, Adam Prescott and Brandon Sallis, located at the bottom of your screen. If you do see any of these five criminals, you are to contact the police and whatever you do, do not engage them_."

Pictures of each of us appeared, all of them were mug shots and i groaned aloud. Everyone cast a glance at Brandon and i, both of us were utterly tense and worried. We were too far to bail them out if they got into trouble right away. "We need to go get them," i said standing suddenly.

"No," Brandon said giving me a look. "We have enough to deal with and we can't leave everyone here unprotected. We need to stay put and wait. They'll be fine." The unspoekn words, '_Mara will be pissed if i take you out there_' hung in the air and i glared.

"Footage from FBI headquarters has been loaded to us and we now send you live feed from the air," we turned to stare at the screen and i groaned again.

"Holy shit!" Luke exclaimed in horror.

A huge whole had blown to the right side of the building. Dust was hanging in the air and you could hear people screaming. We watched as three people stood at the ledge of opposide building and then one by one they stepped back and then ran and jumped straight into the grey cloud. Another plane appeared, it was an army helicopter.

"Shit," i murmured in fear, unable to look away.

"Jesus Christ," Jace said watching as slowly a small army assembled around the building.

"My god she's going to make this ten times worse," i said, panicking. Brandon just made a sound of agreement.

We waited a moment and then they all exited the building, each of them holding hostages, aside from a small blonde girl who looked petrified. They all stopped and Mara shouted at them, "_get the fuck out of my way or i blow a hole through your senator_."

"_Release the hostages, put your hands on your head and lay face down on the ground_," a loud male voice said through a speakerphone.

She just laughed at him, "_not likely, you have five seconds, five_," no one moved and she grinned even more, "_four_." I watched a few of them share uneasy looks and turned to their general or whatever, _"three_," the hostage sobbed loudly, embarassingly. "_Two_," both Adam and Chris just shared looks and smirked, "_one_." A gun shot sounded through the air and we watched as the body collapsed lifeless and heavy. Someone screamed and people gasped both around me and on the screen.

"_Fire_!" someone shouted, clearly not the general, but some of them fired anyways.

Mara and Adam moved quickly and Chris jumped at Danielle who had screamed. Both Chris and Danielle were shot, hitting the ground hard. Adam and Mara lifted a car up effortlessly, flipping it and it slammed in front of them.

We couldn't see for a moment, but when the camera re-angled Brandon froze, "oh no," i said dread settling in my stomach. Mara was standing over Danielle with a passive void expression but furious eyes. I watched her hands ball up and then slowly she relaxed. "Mara no!" i shouted on instinct. Not that she would hear me. She snapped.

She turned and flipped, kicking the car and it went straight into one of the cruisers. It exploded and then everyone was collapsing and burning up. People were screaming and crying, and running, but it didn't matter, she killed everyone there aside from her brothers and Danielle. She just stood there amidst the chaos looking uterrly calm and statuesque, while Adam held Danielle in his arms and Chris laid on the ground in pain. They just waited for the storm pass. That was all you could do when she was raging.

The helicopted crashed into the building behind her, and something blew up from the inside. Finally, she looked up at the camera. The last thing i heard was a high pitched scream for the reporter and then everything turned to static.

The news room reappeared, but the anchorwoman just looked horrified. _"I-," _she didn't know what to say, "_i dont, uh, um, oh my god, th-there all dead_," then that weird striped thing popped up, signalling that the channel was disconnected right now.

I collapsed into the chair, staring at the screen and Brandon just mutely turned off the television. "And you expect us to ler her teach us?" Luke asked us incredulously.

"She's the only one with the skills to teach you," Brandon said shrugging. "If you want you can go out and get killed. She wont care, just bare in mind when she comes across you, she'll kill you herself."

Everyone sat there absorbing this. "Is that what's going to happen to us, are we going to turn into her?" Michelle asked shakily. "i dont think i could be like that, i'd rather die."

"Then you will," i said coldly, everyone glanced at me. "If you can't handle or do what needs to be done, then you might as well kill yourself and stay the hell out of our way. If you dont want to live then you wasting our time. She's cruel and she couldn't care less about you, what she does care about is the war we all got shoved into for being what we are. She saved Danielle because we can't afford anymore of us on the other side. If you do somehow manage to wind up dead, she wont save you, even if she knows how. She'll put you down like a rabid animal. Dont judge her because that's what life turned her into. You dont want to be a cold blooded murderer then fine, dont turn into one, simple, but you have no fucking right to think you can even begin to judge, let alone comprehend what she is."

I stood and left the room, everyone too shocked to say anything.

When Mara returned and hour later she was covered in blood and so was Christopher. She was carrying Danielle in her arms who was unconscious and deathly pale. Brandon and i rushed to help them down in the infirmary and she began preparing for what looked like surgery. "Wash up," she said to me, a calm look in her eyes.

I did as she said, tying my hair back, and mimicking what everyone else was doing. I ended up in surgery garments, masked, gloved and all.

"Do you know what your doing?" Hunter asked, decidedly coming over to help us. He was ready in less then a minute.

"Vaguely," she said, cutting open her shirt.

A single bullet hole sat in her top left shoulder. She looked over my shoulder, where Brandon and Adam were patching up Chris who was also unconscious. "Why didn't you take them to the hospital?" i asked quietly.

"Because i got the feeling they'd somehow end up dead before we left the building. I just massacred a hundred people on live tv, that's bound to piss off a few people," she said, again that unidentifiable sound in her voice. I said nothing, and just did exactly as she said.

Within twenty minutes we had her stable and comfortable in her own room, across from our own. But her heart had stopped shortly after we'd began, it didn't take more then a few seconds to get it back up with a defibrillator.

I found Mara alone in the study after i'd helped cook. "Little early to be drinking, dont you think?" i asked curiously, moving to her side and wrapping my arms around her waist.

"It's eight at night somewhere," she said chuckling. She turned in my arms, pressing her lips to mine lightly.

"How you holding up?" i asked, i had been worried since she snapped this morning. For everyone to see her like that, it was getting to her i think. It was one thing to get mad about my getting hurt, but over something so small. Either something was wrong, or she was becoming angrier and angrier.

"Fine," she said shrugging and pulling away from me. She leaned against the window and then angled her body towards me. Again, that unreadable look in her eyes. I _hated _that look.

"Mara?" i said gently.

She sighed, and then looked up to meet my eyes, a decision in her own to match my confused ones. For any other person her next words would've meant close to nothing, but we werent any other person. So for me her words sent my whole world crashing down around me.

"I want you to sleep in your own room from now on Bella."


	14. Death and His Prophet

**Bella POV**

We stood like that for a quiet agonizing moment. Well in the real world was quiet. Within me? Far from it. My heart was pounding and my blood was just screaming at me. Screaming at me to move, yell, swear, fight. Screaming at me to do _something, anything_. Because my world was falling apart.

Can you believe that? Even my blood knew something was horribly wrong.

"What?" was all i could say, it was breathless and quite strained.

She regarded me coldly, a look i wasn't used to getting, because before i could still see the love in her eyes, even when she was furious with me. Now, all it was calm, cold and calculated.

A look she used when talking to people that weren't pack. So what did that make me now? Nothing. Am i _nothing_ to her now? No! That was impossible, on so many levels that was impossible. Yet here we were. Standing face-to-face, mine was probably expressing something along the lines of panic, heart break and rage. Hers didn't change a bit.

"You heard me, Bella. Your staying in your own room on a different floor from now on, we're not doing this anymore. Were done." Her voice was like ice, like standing over a winter lake, stranded there and something shattered the lake from the edges. Within moments the cracks and cuts would all come to the center. To Me. And i would fall into this coldness, this lake of icy death. Then i would be lost forever. That's what this felt like.

Those last two words, were words i never thought she would ever say to me. It just seemed so wrong, for a fleeting moment i wondered if this was all some horrible nightmare and i'd wake up to her holding me and looking at me with worry. That she would tell me that it was ridiculous to get worked over a silly bad dream that would never come pass. But it wasnt a dream.

I gave her a hateful look, despite my heart breaking a little more with every mili second that i was under her indifferent scrutiny. "There is no reason to become emotional Bella. When the fight is over, you will return to your vampire, get married and that will be the end of everything that we are. Including your relationship with the Pack." I snapped.

"Whatever is going through your head right now is fucked up and _wrong_! You can't just force me out of my own family! Fuck you! They wont agree to that!" i shouted, becoming completely belligerant and enraged.

"I hold dominance over the pack, they'll do what i say, and so will you," she said so matter-of-factly that it somehow only managed to make me even angrier.

"What if i dont want to go back? What then huh?"

She gave me a smile, a cheshire cat smile and said nothing. I stormed out, slamming the door behind me and then went down into the parlor.

I grabbed a bottle of bronze liqour and it could've been cyanide for all i cared. I through it back, chugging it heartily. i turned and whipped the glass at the wattle, the firey water bursting across the wall. I watched it slide down the wall for a moment.

Then i set about destroying the room and letting the fury and pain take over. The alcohol helped and within moments, i saw nothing but the destruction of my own hands, the only comfort i had in my rage.

How could i have been so foolish? Am i really so stupid to make a single person my entire life? Hell, she was and always will be my life line. If she wasn't breathing there was no point i should be. She was a part of me as much as my own body. She was what made me strong. Take her away like nothing and what was i reduced to? One half of a whole. A useless, lost and confused soul looking for her. I was nothing without her. She meant everything to me, everything that mattered. And now she didn't want me.

Someone opened the door, and i turned to glare heavily at Hunter. He held up his hands in surrender. "What the hell is going on?"

"None of your business!" i shouted angrily, lifted a ball from the pool table and whipping it at him. He ducked out of the way and glared back at me.

"What's are you spazzing out for now?"

"Just fuck off!" i yelled hatefully.

"No one wonder why your always fighting with everyone, your a lunatic, i can't even believe someone like Mara loves you!"

That just sent me over the edge and i snapped.

**Mara POV**

_~ Earlier that morning ~_

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, getting the oddest feeling. As if someone was looking for me. I frowned at the ceiling and slipped out of the bed, careful not too disturb Bella.

I left the room, closing the door with the barest 'click' sound. It was still pitch dark out, i must've only been asleep for a few hours.

I went downstairs, figuring a drink might help me sleep.

I was pouring the drink when the door opened behind me. I turned to see Sam walk into the room. He looked pale, sweaty, flushed and more then a little delirious. All the tell tale signs of a night terror.

I quirked an eyebrow at him, wordlessly handing him my now full glass. He took it greatfully and i set about pouring a second. "Why you up?"

"Good question," i said, sitting on a bar stool and he sat next to me.

We sat quietly for a moment and then he frowned, "aren't you going to ask why i'm up?"

I smirked, "you look like shit, it's three in the morning and you came downstairs to drink. What exactly does that spell out to you?"

He grinned crookedly, "sounds like it's round two and i woke up to get an early start on round three."

I chuckled, sitting back. "When i finally fell asleep after Patrick's episode, all i could dream about were my own visions. It surfaced all of those memories. Kind of sucked."

"Yeah, maybe we should go chec-," as if on cue, i cut off when the door opened with a little too much force.

I tilted my head at Patrick, standing there frantic and paranoid. "What's wrong?" i asked frowning. How was he even awake right now?

"i need to talk to you," he said breathlessly, looking only slightly worse then Sam did. He cast a glance at Sam, "privately."

"Say no more," he said standing and leaving.

As the door shut, Patrick's word came out in a rush. "You died! You died! In my vision!"

I smirked, "really now?"

He swallowed thickly, his voice was a little slurred too, maybe i shouldn't have given him so much morphine, "no, you really died! My visions always come true! i saw you die!"

I eyed him a for a moment, no one could act this well, well maybe. But he didn't seem to be lying.

"How?"

He shuffled on his feet, his hands twisting tightly in front of him. He was scared. "I dont know, all i know is that you died, in water."

"In water?" i asked in disbelief. Seriously? Of all the ways i finally die, it ends up being drowning. That's weird, thought someone else would do me in.

"Yeah, i dont know, you were bleeding too. But all i saw was you hit the water, and then someone pulled you out. But they couldn't make you breathe again!"

I stared at him warily. "And you say they've never been wrong?"

He shook his head jerkily. "Never!" _Well shit_.

"Do you know where it was, time, anything?"

He shook his head again, "what are we going to do?"

"Well if it's more of a prophecy then anything, then quite frankly there isn't anything we can do," i said shrugging.

"Your not scared?" he asked astonished.

"Of course not, i see death every day, why should i be afraid of dying, it's inevitable, for everyone."

He just shook his head and before he left, i reached out and caught his wrist. He turned to me fearfully, "dont breathe a word of this to anyone, it will send them all into a panic."

He nodded and then left the room, throwing me a final glance before slowly making his way back to his room.

I sat back, staring at the mirror behind the bar. If what Patrick said was true and unstoppable there honestly wasn't anything i could do. I could make preparations for when it happens. I would need to do that right away, all kinds of things.

I made a mental list of everything that need to be done.

At the top of the list- prepare Bella. If i push her away enough she'll move on, eventually. At least she had someone back home waiting for her. She did deserve that though didn't she? A second chance at life.

After all i had kind of brought her into my world without much warning or even so much as a _'hey were dangerous criminals and if you join us you'll be just as bad and we can all go on the run together because we conducted horrid crimes and everyone in this country will want us dead_'. But to be fair, we were well known in our city, Los Angelos, and when Bella came along, things just tended to hit the fan fast. It wasn't her fault so much as my instinct reaction to her all the time.

Second on the list, transfer my money and property to Bella, she can sell it or something, who knows maybe in a few years she can even go to university. She was smart enough for it. She would have everything she needed for it too. I would set her up for life.

Third on the list? Make sure she's safe and well trained before i do actually bite the dust. At least then i wont have to worry about her being incapable of looking after herself.

As my resolutions ended, i could help the feeling of someone chopping off a piece of me. I needed to be cold for this. i just had to be, there wasn't an option. If i did this half heartedly, she'd see right through me. That would defeat the purpose. Even though the thought of what i was about to do was going to be one of the worst, cruelest, maybe even one of the most dangerous and painful things i've ever done.


	15. The Truth Is Mine

**Mara POV**

After Bella's episode with Hunter, three of us spent half an hour cleaning up the mess. Hunter was far from an even fight when it comes to being pitted against one of the Pack. But he managed to hold his own, she was probably too pissed off. I would've asked him what he said to drive her over the edge, but she left him unconscious.

I just kept repeating the same words over and over again in my mind. It had to be done, an unending heartbreaking mantra. I shook my head a little, and then turned back to Jason and Chris, both of whom were in some kind of heated discussion. "Call everyone downstairs in ten minutes and wake this idiot up," i said nodding at Hunter's unconscious form.

We'd left him on the floor of the parlor, on my orders. Mostly to teach him a lesson for picking a fight with someone with more skill then him. I wasn't much for pity or sympathy. Both emotions were boring to me, and pity? I found pity disgusting.

I left the parlor, going upstairs and into Danielle's room. She was fast asleep, though it looked like she was much better now. She was still pretty pale though. Adam came in behind me, and i didn't acknowledge him at all.

"What you said to Bella was unwise," he said in a crisp voice.

"I had my reasons," i said, lifting up a small tablet up against the wall by her bed. I hit a few buttons, checking her heart rate, healing rate, mental activity, etc. She would be fine to get out of bed. The antibiotics and the IV i'd inserted were helping greatly.

"What reasons?" he asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the sleeping girl. I gave Adam a dark look, and he remained undeterred.

"It had to be done," the words forming with as little effort and meaning as it had become to repeat mentally.

"Why? Brandon told Chris and i everything, and i know your not doing this to get back at her for getting engaged, so what reason could you possibly have for breaking heart while were in the middle of a war?"

"Really had to spell it out there for me didn't you?" i asked frowning. He gave me a disbelieving frustrated look and i sighed. "Let it go Adam, no good will come from asking."

"Look, i love you, both you, all of you. More then anything in the world. Mara, we just lost our brother, a piece of us is gone. We need everyone on the top of their game right now and your keeping things from the rest of us. Why?" he asked, a pained tired look in his eyes.

"All in good time brother, all in good time," i said coolly, and turned back to the rest of the room.

I met Danielle's bright blue confused eyes. She must've woken up a few seconds ago. I wonder why she hasn't said anything. "Morning," i said coming to a stand at the end of the bed.

"Your Mara Petrelli," she said finally, glancing at Adam who had his back to her and was staring out over the back yard. She didn't seem afraid of me, which was weird considering the reaction she'd had when i had first released her from the jail cell she'd been in. Now she just stared at me with most confused curiosity.

"You feeling okay?" i asked, not liking the peculiar change. Everyone in the house stared at me with fear, she should be too.

"Um, mostly, i think," she said, watching me as i moved around the bed back to the tablet.

"What do you remember?" i asked, watching her even more carefully.

She frowned, looking down and then back at me. "You blew up a government building, to save me?"

"Something like that, what else?" i asked, noting the lack of guilt, horror or disgust. What the hell was going on here?

"I remember you killed the Senator, and then we were shot, not much after that," she admitted. "Where am i?"

"Your safe, come on, everyone should be in the living room by now," i said casting a glance at Adam.

She slipped out of the bed, staring at IV attached to her arm, along with a long white box strapped into her arm. "What is this?"

"Beats pushing around that roller thing that holds the bags for the IV," Adam said shrugging.

"You made this?" she asked in surprise, as we made our way out of the room.

"Were slightly further ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology," Adam said dismissively.

We entered the living room, everyone being seated or leaning against the wall. Hunter who was glaring daggers at Bella, who didn't seem to care or notice. I smiled a little, and sat down in between Michelle and Patrick.

"Alright, let's break this down nice and simple for everyone," i started, flipping on the tv and connecting to the laptop i owned.

I pulled up the images of the other ten dead children. "You'll do well to remember every detail of these ten people, as you'll be seeing them more and more."

"There dead though," Sam said frowning.

"Unfortunately we dont stay dead," Bella said in a clipped tone.

"When were killed by someone, were re-born. Much more powerful and much stronger, that isn't the worst part either. Whoever kills us, becomes a sort of master to us. Were set to obey there every order," i said evenly, watching the different range of emotions everyone got.

"Why are the angels killing us then?" Luke asked, frowning.

"I dont know, perhaps to pit us against each other. Were powerful, whether we know it or not. Once your trained, you'd become a force of nature. If we are set to master/puppet mode when we re-wake, once we've all been killed the first time, maybe they'll tell us to kill ourselves or something. I dont know, but i dont plan on dying anytime soon so," i trailed off, shrugging.

"So we stay dead after the second time?" Michelle asked, uneasily.

"This is messed up," Danielle muttered, though all of us heard it.

"Agreed," i said rolling my eyes a little. "We dont know, but as i said, memorize those faces, because recognizing them may be the difference between becoming a puppet and staying alive."

"Should we expect angels too?" Chris asked frowning, "what can they do anyways? What can _you_ even do?"

Everyone turned to me and i shrugged, and then turned to the Winchesters, "this is your area of expertise, is it not?"

They shared looks, "angels can teleport, knock you out with a touch, read your mind. Strong, fast, the usual."

"How is that the usual?" Bella asked in disbelief. "How is any of what's going on at all normal?"

"Normal for them B, chill," i shot at her, and ignored her glare. "So you guys have murdered a bunch of our kind, tell us, what can we do?"

"Whoa, what?" Hunter blurted out, "you've killed people like us," he turned to me now and i frowned, "and your letting them stay here, are you insane?"

I quirked an eyebrow, "of course i am. Back to the point," i said turning back to the brothers.

"Some can control demons, move things telekinetically, see the future, mostly about you guys," Dean said, thinking and squinting for a moment. "It's hard to tell, we didn't meet everyone. But a few of them, got more then one power."

"Well one girl could kill people a touch, she actually killed her girlfriend," Sam said absently, and everyone turned to Bella and i instantly.

I rolled my eyes, "i think i have a little more control then that."

Bella just got this weird pained look in her eyes, stood and left the room. We all stared at the entrance she'd left through and several us flinched when something crashed. She'd probably thrown something or hit something. She wasn't handling this well. I wasn't too sure what to do about it though.

"Something you'd like to share?" Dean ventured eyebrows raised.

"We broke up," everyone stared at my cold expression for a long minute.

"How do two people like you 'just break up'?" Sam asked tilting his head confused.

"Quite simply actually," i said smirking a little. I hated being so trivial about this, but i needed to be. Had to hold up appearances after all.

"Who gives a shit, they'll end up together in the end anyways," Jason said snorting slightly.

"How are we doing this training thing anyways? When do we start?" Michelle asked, a little impatiently.

"We've come up with a decent enough work schedule for everyone. Were going to have to test everyone out somehow to determine who has what abilities," Adam said, leaning forward slightly. "But until we can get that figured out we'll start the basic training, weapons, self defence, that kind of thing. Once everyone's done the first ten hours will move into more vigorous and deeper training. Moving into technique, balance, that kind of thing."

"Whose training us?"

"We'll do it as a group for the first half an hour to an hour each morning, give you a sort of show, let you get the feel of what we'll be teaching you during that session," Brandon said next. "Then we'll break off into pairs and do one on one training. Each day we'll set you up against one another and you'll spar. Just to get a feel of your training and progress. In the evenings, Sam and Dean will teach us everything they know about angels, demons, and whatever else we need to know about what will be hunting us."

"What?" the Winchesters asked simultaneously.

"You didn't really think you just going to sit around did you? You have valuable information, and i want every single bit of it," i said in a tone without arguement.

They shared looks, "there's a lot to go through then."

"Then we'll start with the important stuff. Everything you know from demon children to angels and demons, you'll research hybrids and this puppet/master thing and report to me every time you find something," they didn't like being ordered around much. I didn't wait for an arguement though.

"Alright, we have enough training gear for everyone in the room. After each training lesson you'll spend several hours doing personal work outs and exercising."

"i've seen you jump from one building to another, scale a twenty story jailhouse, among other things. Are we going to be able to do that?" Patrick asked, a little excitedly.

"That's the general idea, yes," i said nodding once.

Later on that evening i was having a drink with Danielle. We'd figured out why see had reacted so weirdly when she woke up. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on. She was sired to me, as everyone continued calling it. Me? I just thought it was kind of freaky, and that's saying something. There isn't a lot in this world that freaks me out.

But the girl was struggling, i could see that already. She was always watching me, waiting for something. Some kind of order i guess. So we'd been trying to train her, as demeaning as that term is, to disobey. It was uncomfortable for me to view as some kind of pet that needed training, which was odd in itself, considering i had no regard whatsoever for just about everyone on this planet. I figured it was the master part of me, i cared about her, kind of, in a weird way. Like she needed to be preserved or something, which made me wonder if the angels felt that.

Dean disagreed with that last idea, said that angels didn't have feelings, unless they fell. "Why did you break up with Bella?" Danielle asked, taking a sip of her own beer.

"Does it matter?" i retorted coldly.

She gave me an unimpressed look, "i've been studying you all day, and from what i've gathered, yes it does matter," i gave her a dark look and she faltered for a moment. Apparently the side that cared about me won out, "look, i can tell your in real pain. You keep saying your okay, you dont care, your not. Why keep lying to us and yourself, why not tell the truth?"

I regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, a little impressed with her courage to confront me. Most people couldn't do that. "Because the truth is mine."


	16. Grasping At Straws

**Mara POV**

We were getting nowhere on finding a way to figure out their abilities. We only knew that Bella's a shield, Danielle could control minds and Patrick had visions, but aside from that, none of the ideas we had panned out.

I'd also been debating how to handle my whole death thing. I figured Bella would want someone around afterwards and i also got the feeling everyone would split up yet again, only this time for good. At least if she went back to the vampire she wouldn't be subject to hells whims when she died. Probably end up a vampire in the end anyways, maybe change enough over time to change her own fate. And really, what more could i want for her?

The rest of us would die human though, that much i knew. All of us knew without a doubt that we'd taken a one way ticket downstairs for all of our sins, and now that we knew hell did exist it wasn't a question of if but when. None of us would ever ask for forgiveness, why should we? We acknowledged the fact that we were monsters underneath pretty faces and deceptive smiles, but we didn't regret much of anything. Some things were just in our nature, so why ask for anything any less then we deserved.

I decided to ask Dean about hell, who i eventually found in the backyard on the porch. "Drinking by yourself," i said amused, and he jumped, turning to stare at me surprised. I pushed open the screen door, closing both behind me. "Now why would Dean Winchester need to drink away his sorrows?"

"Why does Mara Petrelli care enough to ask?" he shot back irritated.

I just grinned and sat next to him, taking the bottle from his hand and take two long gulps of the burning liquid. "I have a question for you Dean."

"I figured as much."

I took another drink, before passing it back to him, both of us staring out over the yard. I sighed, leaning back and resting my elbows onto the step above the one i sat on. "You went to hell, yes?"

"Is that rhetorical question?"

"Of course, i was wondering what hell's like," i said keeping my eyes on the yard and avoiding his gaze as he turned to stare at me.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked frowning at me, "you and your band of merry sociopaths dont seem to feel much regret for anything you've done."

"Were psychopaths, not sociopaths," i said rolling my eyes, "were far too organized to be sociopaths, and it's nearly impossible to figure out whether or not someone is a psychopath. Look at Bella for instance, no one had a clue and you said it yourself, the coven of vampires Bella got all mixed up in didn't believe she'd actually dont any of the things she was accused of."

He was silent for a moment, "hell is just that, hell. Your tortured, in every way they think of, over and over again, and it's your soul they torture, so you never stay dead down there. They'll dangle things in front of you, mock you. Time runs faster too. One month here is equal to ten downstairs."

His eyes were haunted now, having supressed memories i'd forced him to recall to satisfy my curiosity. They were almost glowing, glowing darkly, if that were possible. So Dean had been dead and in hell for four months up here and forty downstairs. No wonder he had so many issues.

"Well at least i dont need to worry about dying of old age," i said thoughtfully.

"What makes you say that?" he asked frowning, "and why do you want to know about hell anyways?"

I glanced at him, tilting my head thoughtfully. I assumed Dean would keep whatever i said to himself, Hunters were probably born to keep secrets. I shrugged instead. He continued to stare at me as i looked up at the stars, replaying the image of how i'd die in my mind. I was going to drown, one way or another, but i wouldn't get wake up again. Which left me wondering if i'd been under someone elses control in the end.

"Mara?" he said worriedly, "why are you asking me that?"

"Patrick had a vision the night he got here. At first i thought he was delirious from all the medication we'd put him on. But he seemed rather convinced it was true. Said he saw me die, and that i didn't wake up, that it was the end of the line for me."

He didn't say anything for a long time. We both just sat there quietly.

"Are you scared?" he asked finally, turning back to watch me carefully as i answered.

"I dont have the right to be scared and if i was, i surely wouldn't let on about it now would i?"

Once again, Bella and i had gotten into yet another arguement over taking them out into the field. We'd been disagreeing constantly. i coudn't help but wonder if she was only trying to get under my skin by making things difficult becaue i'd ending things.

We need to do something, Patrick had informed me a week ago that we were going to be ambushed sometime soon. I hadn't told anyone, but i'd doubled the hours on all of the training sessions.

"The testing isn't working, we've been grasping at straws since we've gotten here and none of them have a single idea as to what they can do!" i said in frustration, both Adam and Brandon were on her side, and Chris was on mine, though they weren't breaking through the shouting to say anything.

"Your going to get someone killed Mara! You've been training them for eight weeks now, not six months, not a year, eight weeks. And you haven't even begun to teach how to work in partners let alone teams!" she shouted back.

"There going to get hurt either way! They need to be under pressure Bella and the sooner we know what their capable of we can finally start that training. And you dont always get the chance to make plans at war. Whose to stay the others aren't about ambush the house in the middle of the night and none of us has any real defence aside from guns? We have no idea what there capable of and we need to know what we can do!"

"The Pack is more then capable of handling them, you dont need put a bunch of barely trained teenagers in front of a bunch of monsters!" she said glaring at me.

"We are monsters Bella! I could change my mind at any minute and just put a bullet in each of them. At least then we'd finally know what they could do."

"Your going to kill a bunch of kids to be what? Play puppet master? That's fucked up!" she said disturbed.

"That's bullshit Bella, but we dont have a whole lot of time left. We've been here eight weeks and we've gotten nowhere, we need to get creative before someone else dies."

"Your not taking them anywhere, and i swear to God if you do i will walk out that door and go straight to them," she said evenly now.

I regarded her coldly, and she didn't flinch away, but she did tense under my icy stare. "You know better then to give me an ultimatum Bella."

"Then maybe you should fucking listen to me for once, before you got and fuck everything up royally," she retorted, voice getting even more calm as she left the room.

I dropped down onto the couch, sighing heavily. "We need a new plan," Brandon said glancing at Adam.

"Let's start with what we know. It's demon blood, they've given us a list of the abilities they've seen. It's safe to say that Bella's ability as well as your own aren't following the previous pattern, so we should dismiss it, or at least not rely too much on that information," Adam said next and i spoke after.

"The abilities seem to be stemmed from emotion; fear and rage, Bella's shield always formed when either something attacked her or attacked someone she cared about. Mine triggered when Daniel's girlfriend had a gun on Bella. Danielle noticed hers last week, when Luke tried to eat the last fruit loops or whatever and she told him to give it to her. Patrick says he got his first vision four years ago, and they started out in dreams."

"We have to ignore how he got his ability for now. There's no telling what could've triggered it," Chris said to my right.

"Agreed. We can simiulate an attack," i said absentmindedly.

Everyone was silent and i frowned, "do it in the middle of the night, make it seem like one of two of us are dead, get the Winchesters in on it."

"Beats sticking them in the line of fire," Adam said reluctantly.

"Excellent."

We spent half an hour debating how to go about this little plan of ours when we realized something. "The Winchester's aren't going to play along. They'll get all edgy and say someone will get hurt," Chris said shaking his head.

"What do you suggest? Lock them up in one of the cells downstairs?" i asked eyebrows raised.

"We still have to figure whether or not were telling Bella about this," Brandon pointed out.

"Bella will stay upstairs and watch the computers, i dont want her getting in the way. If she thinks someones about to get hurt or in danger then she's going to jump into the middle of it and the whole plan will go to tell," Chris said, giving me a look and i nodded. I was fine with that.

"Besides, if Bella is involved and helps with the ambush then she might end up sending one of them through the wall if there ability does trigger and it looks someone get hurt," i said in agreement. "Do we have any blood in the house?"

"We have about three bags in the cooler downstairs, what are you thinking?" Brandon asked, everyone waiting for the next idea.

"We'll wait till early morning to do it. Leave our bedrooms empty and untouched. They'll sleep thinking we remained up in the parlor having a few drinks. We'll scatter some blood all over the place, and maybe leave a trail out to the garden, and into the woods. We'll split them up, send a few into the small bushes out back, and trap the others in the house, perhaps the library, there are plenty twists and turns in there."

"Do you know how long it'll take to put all those books back in order if the shelves get knocked down?" Adam said in disbelief.

"What do you suggest?" i retorted annoyed, "we dont have a lot of options right about now and were running out of time here. I need them all trained!"

"Mara, they can't find us here," Chris said rolling his eyes at me.

"They will eventually," Brandon said in a 'duh' voice, "and we can't hide forever."

"We dont know what kind of abilities they have, and there getting restless being couped up in here 24/7. If they were ready i'd let them go out, they need to get out and we probably drives them nuts knowing we come and go."

"No kidding, remember tuesday? Can't even watch a movie without someone getting pissed over what to watch," i said shaking my head in disbelief.

"Or Luke and Hunters session yesterday? They tried to rip each others head off rather then spar."

"Were getting off track, we still need to test their physical strengths in the field too, that's the only reason why i agreed to Mara's batshit crazy plan," i scowled at Chris, it wasn't that bad a plan. We'd be close by watching them.

"Let's trigger them first, then we'll set something up to test them. Maybe we can find something that will be the hardest on their weaknesses," i said thoughtfully.

"Like?'"

"We can drop Danielle off somewhere with vampires or something, it'll be difficult for her to control more then one," they all gave me disbelieving looks.

"She isn't that strong Mara, and she's tiny," Adam said amused.

"Exactly, it'll give her a chance to use that to her advantage, she hates being short, so she's blind to the potential her small size has," Brandon said siding with me.

"That is a horrible idea. Are you insane? We dont even know if we can handle that kind of fight, have you ever fought a vampire? Has Bella?" Adam said wide eyed.

"Good point, we need to test ourselves first, we'll Sam and Dean for that one."

"I thought a vampire did attack you," Chris said confused.

I frowned, thinking back and then it clicked in. "Yeah Bella's fiances sister, Robin or something like that. She could've kicked my ass if she hadn't been so dead set on sinking her teeth into me." They grinned at my chose of words.

"We'll start out in group then, two against one or something, i'm looking forward to that test," Brandon said grinning.

We spent the next few hours panning out the details when we finally settled on everything. Having had to do a lot of negoiating on how to proceed. They were worried someone might actually and die, and right about now we didn't need one person less.

We'd planned to record it from several different angles for each of them. Then we were going to attach a 'Reader' as we called them onto each of them. It tracked and memorized there heart beat, reflex time, there mental waves, the amount of strain on their body they could handle and so on. We could even track them.

The next day we did our usual training before requesting them to come down into the infirmary where we placed the clear inch by inch circles to the back of their necks. They were more or less invisible to the visible eye, so i figured we could leave them on afterwards. The download was instantaneous and began recording everything, from weight, exhaustion, alertness, everything. The information went to the compueters, creating locked files on each of them.

It was about three thirty in the morning when we began to set everything up. We left Sam and Dean unconscious, making fake bullet wounds all over them. We put Sam in the living room, and Dean in the parlor.

Then we splattered blood in the parlor, over the bar and getting it all over a half full glass of whisky on the table. we knocked a few things and then created a trail of thick blood drops into the back yard.

The idea was to set off a small fire on one side of the house. Chris would run throughout the house, gathering everyone, saying the other psychic kids chosed up and grabbed Adam, Brandon and myself before he could get to us. We were going to lock the secrutiy room so they couldn't get at the weapons and only use whatever they had with them. He'd send them through the woods saying them they were in the front and we'd pick them off one at a time.

We all changed our clothes, wearing black hoodies and pants. Luckily it was pitch dark outside, so there wouldn't be enough light to identify us.I lifted up my hood covering my face and all we carried were butterfly blades as well as a gun full of blanks. We cut all of the power first before calling Patrick and Danielle downstairs. Before knocking them out and setting more fake wounds on them. Then Adam trapped Bella in the security room, having called her in and telling her to stay put.

Then Adam and i went to the front door, locking it from behind us. We turned, and i glanced at my watch. "Five, four, three, two," he grinned and we both kicked the door in side by side. It went flying backwards and smashed into the staircase.

We ran for the parlor, everyone stirring upstairs and then set off a few gunshots. The fire was already climbing up the wall of the house by the time Chris was up the stairs and telling everyone to run for the woods.

We kept up the gunshots and i shot through the window at Michelle, Hunter who'd gone straight out her window. She landed gracefully, and went straight for the woods. I left the parlor, and i took a shot at Chris as he led Luke and Jason out, who was carrying Jessie in his arms.

Then Chris shot back and i jumped out of the way. I heard him order them out of the house and i rushed him, tackling him. We wrestled for a moment, and another shot went off as they left through the back door.

Chris stayed behind and i followed aftert them. I couldn't see Adam or Brandon but i figured they'd gone after. I came across Michelle first and as i tackled her a gun shot ripped through the air several yards away.

She maneuvered out of my grasp and then lunged for me, sending us back to the ground. She struck out and i dodged the blow, tripping her back onto the ground. I didn't give her the chance to defend herself as I lifted my gun and she squeezed her eyes shut as i pulled the trigger.


	17. So Much For Calmed Down

**Mara POV**

We stayed like that for a minute, just staring at one another. The shot hit the ground instead of her torso. It had gone straight through her heart. I lowered my arm, and lifted my hood off. She fell backwards, relief filling her. "Your a bitch," she said angrily, taking heavy breaths to calm herself down.

"You say that like I didn't know," I held out my hand for her and she accepted it, grudgingly.

"It just, went right through me," she said staring at the spot she'd been in. Then turned to me, "you could've killed me if that hadn't worked!"

"There blanks," I said frowning, "I wasn't actually going to kill you."

I heard another gun shot, and glanced in that direction, then another and the rest of the night fell silent. "Come on, let's go back to the house," she just glared and practically stomped back to the house.

"Very mature Michelle," I called after her grinning.

As everyone moved into the living room I went upstairs and unlocked the room Bella had been locked in. I hadn't expected her to be so pissed off. As I opened the dor the first thing that occurred was her punching me in the face.

"Ow!" I shouted, clutching my throbbing nose. My eyes teared up a little and I glared at her. "What the hell Bella!"

"Pull something like that again and I will kick your ass," she said coldly, brushing past me roughly and going downstairs.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered, wiping the blood from under my nose and then following after her. Everyone who had been tricked or knocked unconscious was severely pissed off.

"What the fuck Mara, was it necessary to drug us?" Sam asked glaring at me.

"You even have to ask? Quit whining, it happened, get over it," I said plopping down on the couch. I surveyed the group, everyone was bruised, muddy and more then a few of them looked murderous. Jessie had tears in her eyes and to be fair, the only guilt I had over the whole ordeal was for making her cry and that lasted about five seconds. It needed to be done.

"Has everyone calmed down enough to talk without getting worked up, or should we discuss everything in the morning?" Chris asked eyebrows raised. Everyone glared and I smirked a little. When no one spoke I figrued that was the sign that everyone was more or less calm.

Chris stood, exiting the room and going into the kitchen, I looked to the remaining pack memebers, "so what have we got?"

"Hunter is a sheild, Jason is a technopath, which explains his ability with computer hacking," Chris said having heard me from the kitchen and returned, handing me a glass of strong rum. I accepted it greatfully, practically chugging it as I absorbed this information.

"Luke managed to set me on fire," Brandon said frowning a little.

"That explains why I smelt something burnt," I said smirking at him, he glared at me. Of course Bella couldn't resist the urge to start another arguement.

"That's proof right there that you shouldn't had done what you did! If Luke had triggered the same way you had Brandon would be dead right now!" Bella said furiously.

"Enough! The idea was to scare them Bella, not make them angry, we succeeded, let it go," I said glaring at her.

"Are you fucking kidding me? So now your going behind my back and pulling stupid stunts like that without even talking to me? We split up and all of a sudden im no longer pack? I guess you weren't joking when you said you force me out of the family," she said coldly, and I flinched a little.

_Uh-oh. Busted_. "You said what?" Adam said seriously, everyone going completely silent now. Everyone had the gist of what happened, or the bottom line anyways, they didn't know the details.

I sighed heavily, "I was trying to make a point." So much for calmed down.

"Did you really tell her you would force her out of the Pack?" Adam said in disbelief. I nodded once. "What the fuck is wrong with you Mara? Did you really think we'd go along with something like that? She's Pack and she always will be! Nothing you say or do will change that!"

"She may belong to us for the rest of her life, but that doesn't mean she's going to be anywhere near us in the future," I said calmly, "none of us."

I knew it wasn't fair to pull rank over everything. They would listen to me, especially if I made it clear what was to happen after this whole war. They'd hope and bother me continuously to change my mind, but once I was dead, that was it. My death would just make any orders I had permanent and they would respect my wishes no matter how much it hurt or angered them. Even Bella would. Even if she hated me for it for the rest of her life, she would listen.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Adam shouted angrily, standing and glaring at me, fists balled up at his side. "You can't do this! She's our sister for christ sakes!"

I glanced at Bella who just looked hurt, now that the truth was out in the open it looked the only thing she wanted to do was run from the room rather then pick a fight with me. She did just that, she opened her mouth to say something, shook her head and left. It hurt. A lot. Especially knowing I had done that too her.

The gifted kids were kind of just listening in, they weren't stupid enough to get in the middle of a pack arguement. One of them would end up with an ass kicking. I did notice Dean's look, as if everything had finally made sense, all of the pieces I'd given him or he'd seen over the last few weeks finally falling into place. He just looked kind of sad about it, his eyes downcast.

Patrick wore a similar expression, though mixed with one of guilt, probably blaming himself for ever telling me in the first place. It also looked as though he was two seconds from teling everyone why this was happening. I gave him a lethal stare and he looked away, taking the the threatening look seriously.

"Mara, even you know this is wrong, what in God's name could possibly make you do something like this?" Chris said, coming out of his shock, he looked utterly confused, hurt and sort of at a loss. He didn't know what to do, what to say. None of them seemed to, aside from getting upset about it.

But I didn't have a whole lot of options. Once I was dead, who would be left to look after her, to have her back? I knew the Pack would protect her or die trying, but that wasn't I needed. I needed someone who could do the job and not die doing it but it looked less and less like someone could fit the job description. I needed her out of this life, and I owed her a new one, even if I couldn't be in it I would give it to her.

I had always imagined us somewhere else in the world, on a beach in Brazil, or travelling through Venice on a boat, walking through the streets of Athens in Greece under the stars. I'd imagined us doing all kinds of things, that we'd eventually get to have that. I know we didn't really deserve any of that and the fact that I would be dead in a few short weeks only made it more true that we didn't deserve peace or happiness. I didn't deserve a happy ending, maybe none of us did, but I was damn sure going to try and get Bella one.

"It's happening, my reasons are of no importance," I said coldly.

"This is bullshit," Adam spat and then left the room through the same door Bella had, probably to go comfort her or something. I momentarily debated that, but figured nothing good would come from it.

"I want a reason," Brandon said hurt but having looked the calmest of the three of my brothers since the arguement had begun.

"I want a lot of things," I said dismissing the question and turned to address the rest of the room. "We'll discuss a training schedule for everyone in the morning, get some sleep, all of you need it."

They all shared uneasy looks and left slowly, all of them going upstairs to their rooms, both Patrick and Danielle hesitated at the door. "I'm so sorry," Patrick said looking more then a little guilty now, and then he was gone. His words hung in the air for a moment, and I couldn't help the snort of disbelief that I made, as if he thought it was his fault I was dying.

"Will you be okay?" Danielle asked, eying me worriedly.

I gave her a small smile, "aren't I always?" She just rolled her eyes, reassured with my usual attitude she followed behind the others.

"This isn't right Mara, if you want any of us to listen to this fucked up order, we need more then 'what I say goes'," Brandon said glancing at his brother, who looked like he'd swallowed battery acid or something. His words were met with my own silence, as if we'd met some sort of impasse and all we could do was give each other a death stare.

"There's more to it then what your telling us, why are you keeping secrets all of a sudden?" Chris said finally.

I frowned, "this isn't an intervention and it's not all of the sudden. Let it go, I'll tell you everything soon enough, but not tonight," I promised, already regretting the words but knowing I'd follow through. I didn't want to tell them anyways.

Brandon just shook his head and left for the parlor. "We'll stay and help clean," Dean said awkwardly once I'd turned to him and his brother. Chris stood up abruptly, knocking over hsi chair and looked pissed off all of a sudden.

I gave him a dark look, "dont start! If your about to pick an arguement then get the fuck out!"

His voice was filled with cold simplicity now, and his words cut deep, much more then I'd like to admit, "I'm really starting to hate you, you know that?"

"Yeah you and the rest of the world," I shot back eyes narrowed. He just scoffed and left the room.

As soon as he was gone I hunched forward, using my knees to support my elbows as I leaned over. I rubbed my face, suddenly exhausted with everything that had just transpired. I ran my hands through my hair and just stared at the floor for a minute.

"You sure your okay?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Of course not, but I can't run around telling people that now can I?" voice full of annoyance. He frowned at me.

"Just tell them the truth, maybe they'll understand," Dean blurted out. Sam gave him a confused look. I sighed. He said that as if I didn't want to. Well a part of me didn't, but another part of me ached and burned to tell my family why I was doing this, especially Bella. But another part of me didn't want people to start acting weird if they knew I was going to die.

"They wont. And I can't, not yet, it's way too soon. Shits gonna hit the fan and if I open my mouth then everyones going to be distracted. We have bigger problems to worry about," I said shaking my head and leaning backwards heavily. This sucked, on so many levels.

"You know what's going on?" Sam said in surprise. Dean and I just shared looks and at my shrug he nodded. Sam gave him a disbelieving look, "and you've said absolutely nothing? Whatever is going on is tearing her family apart and your okay with that?!"

"It's not my secret to tell," he said uneasily, in a slightly pleading tone. Sam wasn't very understanding about it though.

"I always knew you were a dick, but right now I'm starting to think your no better then she is," he said cruelly_. Ouch_, I thought awkwardly.

"Well that's a little harsh," I said surprised, staring at the spot he'd just been in. I turned to Dean's ashen expression, "dude, your brothers a jerk."

"I'm not that bad am I?" he asked me suddenly, still stuck on what Sam had said.

"How the hell should I know?" I said tilting my head at him and frowning.

"I'm serious!"

"Dont shout at me," I said glaring at him a little, "and no, based on what I've read from you. You suck, but your not a monster."

He let out a relieved breath and I rolled my eyes.

"Lets get a drink," I suggested, standing up and going down into the basement. We both grabbed our own bottles of the first thing we saw, which turned out to be gin and vodka and then sat down to replay the videos of all of the fights thoroughly.

I couldn't help but smirk when I remembered how we'd put them down and then set them up to look dead. I'd also forgotten that Adam and Brandon had dropped the top half of Dean when we'd been setting everything up. His head fell in a pool of the blood we had on the floor. Dean gave me a dirty look and I snickered a little. We spent the next few hours talking quietly before stumbling our way up to our bedrooms.

I hated to admit it, but I rather liked Dean's company. He didn't feel the need to bring up impending death and we could sit quietly, drifting away in our own thoughts without feeling rude.


	18. And When I Fall

**Mara POV**

Things did not go well the next morning. Even worse the next night. After the little revelation of my cruelty towards Bella, everyone was anxious and upset. Which meant arguements in the name of 'disagreements' as i had taken to calling them and lots of them too. Now that the the psychic kids knew what they could do and had a general idea of how to access their power they wanted to get out even more. The whole house being in total turmoi made every single one of us itch to get out. And now here i was, in yet another 'disagreement'.

"You said you wanted to test them in the field, so let's go out into the field! You know best after all," Adam said in an overly calm methodical tone.

"Grow up Adam," i said in disgust. I hated when people tried to throw thigns back in my face. "You can't act mature about this for five minutes, then whose to say any of us will be able to react properly if something goes down?"

"Something will go down. We need to test there strengths dont we? See if they can function under pressure. Were going to start a riot," he said as if it were obvious.

"Start a riot," i repeated, the words not really sinking in.

"Were going," Luke said next. "Whether you like it or not."

I stared at the room full of people, "fine. We'll go out. I'm telling you now your not ready for a full scale riot. But if you think you know better then me then go for it, i can't wait to watch this whole thing blow up in your faces." That made them hesitate and stare at each other uneasily. I gave them a slightly unimpressed look, "well, suit up. Where street clothes because chances are we wont be in any of the training gear during a real fight. Pack your personal weapons and that's it."

No one moved. It was like they expected some big arguement or for me to stop them. But no. They needed to learn from their mistakes and i told them they weren't ready, they didn't trust my judgement. The fine, but i wasn't going to make this easy on them, it was a test after all. "Let's go! Now! You have half an hour to be ready."

Everyone moved as soon as my voice and now they looked kind of freaked out. I stared at Adam coldly, "your going to regret this."

"Dont threaten me," he said just as coldly. "Im giving you exactly what you wanted."

"No you want the control, take it. You think you know better then me, fine, you take them out. I'll tag along," he just rolled his eyes and strolled out of the room.

"Your letting him call the shots?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Why not? Because the last time he called the shots both of you ended up in a German hospital for two weeks."

"Exactly. I'm sick of him butting heads with me all the time," i said evenly.

"So this is your way of teaching him a lesson? This is nuts, someone's going to get hurt," Brandon said frowning, and glancing at Bella who looked more thoughtful then she had in the last few days.

"Yeah and it'll probably be me," i said turning and leaving the room.

Bella ended up staying behind with Jessie and the Winchesters, Bella was going to call if there was a change on any of the police monitors. Once everyone was dressed we piled into three cars, and went to a huge club outside of the city. It was more of a rave, but there would be a lot of our kind of people around.

A lot of people who hated my family and i, they were more on Adam's families side, or at least under his fathers influence. His father, Sergej practically owned this side of Washington, most of British Columbia and most of Oregon. We didn't mix well at all with them.

We pulled up to the building and i checked to make sure my cell phone was on vibrate. People were milling around i felt quite a few stares as we got out of the cars. "You get shot, your screwed," Adam said pointedly to everyone. "Chances are we'll be gunned for first, so stick together, and get back to the house. But stay in pairs."

I grabbed Danielle's hand and pulled her towards me, whispering in her ear, "stay close to Michelle or Luke, i want you with someone at all times."

"Why?" she muttered back as we neared the door.

"I want to test out our link, see how strong it is, and dont worry about me too much, i need you focused tonight, understand?" she nodded wordlessly and then moved to Michelle's side.

I sighed and shared a look with Brandon who just draped his arm over my shoulder in comfort and led us inside. "Drink?" i called over the heart pounding music and he nodded once, taking my hand and guiding me towards the counter.

Chris still wasn't talking to me. Adam seemed to want to pick fights with me rather then Bella, who was avoiding me as if i were the devil. Sam seemed pretty to pissed off with Dean still, but he hadn't breathed a word of what he had discovered to anyone, much to my relief. I think he was waiting for his brother to say something. But i knew Dean well enough to know he knew how to keep things to himself, even if he couldn't stand it.

He guided us over to the bar, both of us ordering a few shots before getting some beers. Most of the crowd had recognized us, but i think the others we'd showed up with were throwing them for a loop.

Danielle was the only one they were familiar with and that was because of the stunt i'd pulled at the FBI headquarters. They'd had a big memorial for all the people who had died, or rather been murdered. Everyone was just praying i'd be caught or killed, they'd get their wish soon enough. That thought made me feel a little bitter.

As if reading my mind, Brandon took my beer, setting it down and then tugged me onto the dancefloor. He had the most mischevious look on his face i'd ever seen and i narrowed my eyes at him. "Have a little fun, we dont get to relax very often lately."

"Were not supposed to be having fun tonight," i pointed out, but caving and turning to press my body against his as i let the music pull me in.

"Oh, so is it a 'no drugs' kind of night then?" he asked in my ear, voice sounding thick for a second i couldn't help the confusion that i felt.

"Why are you asking?" i asked, and a moment later the most familiar and nauseating feeling washed over me. It was moving into every cell of my body, making me shake and feel quite warm as well.

"I was thinking it would be rather unfortunate for you to mad once you realized i dropped ecstacy into your bottle the moment we got here."

Well that explained everything i thought uneasily. I froze in the center of the dancefloor, unsure of what to do now. "You didn't-," he cut me off, grinning darkly.

"Of course i did," he said amused. "You needed it."

"Brandon!" i said in disbelief, but unable to keep the bubble of laughter that escaped. "You drugged me!" i wasn't sure, but that was incredibly funny for some reason. I laughed again and he did too.

"Let's have some fun, like we used to, before you decided to turn us into an army," he said pouting a little, face flushed. I caved.

About half an hour later we found ourselves upstairs in a room with a bunch of people we didn't know, totally drunk and coked out of our minds. It hadn't occurred to us that we were going to far until it was too late.

I was sitting back up, having finished my fourth or fifth line of coke when the gunshots went off. "What's that?" i mumbled, elbowing Brandon, who had a blonde girl in his lap and mkaing out with. Then more gunshots, and a lot of screaming and shouting. I stood, shoving the girl off of him, and then pulled him up roughly. That sudden feeling that something was wrong washed over me and i couldn't figure out what it was exactly.

I stumbled towards the door, and ripped it open, pulling my gun out and running through the crowd and into the railing. Everyone was running around, and i could hear even more gunshots. I stared at the scene utterly lost for a moment before it clicked in. We were in big trouble, three of the dead kids were here and quickly advancing on Michelle, Jason and Chris. They looked pretty beat up from where i stood and they had no weapons either.

Adam and the others were nowhere to be seen so i could only assume they were in a fight outside.

Brandon and i shared glossy looks of fear and then i threw myself over the railing and next to Chris. Brandon jumped over a moment later, after hesitating and i understood why he'd debated whether jumping was a good idea or not. His leg hit the top of the railing and he went flailing into the ground next to us. We all paused, staring at his flattened out form and i burst out laughing.

No one seemed to know what to say, in fact neither did the dead kids. "What's wrong with you?" Danielle asked frowning at me. Chris leaned closer and realization dawned on him a moment later.

"There stoned," Chris spat, glaring at me and i grinned widely.

"Mara, right?" one of the deads guessed, staring at me thoughtfully a girl i vaguely remembered as Lori.

"What of it?" the words were slurred and quite hostile but the contempt was pretty much lost due to how obliterated i was.

"Have you ever wondered what death feels like?" a boy asked, i think his name was Johnathon.

"Why dont you send me a letter from hell telling me about it?" i said, raising my gun and pulling the trigger.

Nothing happened. I frowned, and everyone stared at me in disbelief when i pulled my arm back to inspect my weapon. Then i realized what went wrong, "oh the safety's still on!"

Someone hit me in the jaw before i could do much of anything. I hit the ground heavily and swore as blood filled my mouth. I twisted, and scrambled for the gun only to be tackled by Johnathon. He punched me hard and i didn't block in time. My head bounced off the ground and i felt rage bubble up inside of me.

I grabbed his arm just in time as he had gone to hit me again and i pulled him forward roughly and then threw my head forward. He fell off of me and i stumbled up and then threw a sloppy hit at someone else who rushed me. I didn't recognize them but they said something about Daniel and i just assumed they were pissed that Bella had killed him or that i'd killed his girlfriend. I put too much weight into the throw and someone gripped my wrist before i hit the ground.

I turned only for Lori to hit me in the stomach, and i hunched forward, mostly in surprise. She shoved me hard and i went through the door and out onto the balcony. I collapsed, and then scrambled up, i could see everyone engaged in their own fights and i caught a glimpse of Danielle and Luke down below on the ground, which had a five story drop.

I stumbled back up and the doors burst open, Lori and Jonathon appearing. "How is that even fair?" i groaned moving into a defensive stand.

"Life isn't fair kiddo, or haven't you heard?" Jonathon mocked.

"Kiddo? Were the same age!" i said in disbelief and then swayed when the world tilted.

"You shouldn't do drugs when your about to pick a huge fight with the locals, not very bright are you?" Lori said condescendingly.

I frowned, "how did you even know we were here?"

They just grinned simulatenously. "Were going to kill you know Mara," Jonathon said excitedly.

"Dont sound so sure of yourself you prick," i said coldly. They both rushed me and i gripped the railing behind me and pulled as hard as i could. Part of the pole fell away from the rest, and the uprooted railing fell to the ground, and everyone looked up. I didn't wait to see who noticed us and swung hard as i turned back to them.

I hit Lori in the side, Jonathon had backed out of the way and then wrapped his arms around me. If i wasn't so hammered my fighting wouldn't be so off, but as the hit was too heavy it gave him the opportunity he needed. I stumbled sideways, losing my balance and almost falling off the ledge and he shoved a little more and i lost my footing again staring down at the fighting below me. I lost my breath at the sight, that drop was way too far for me, and there were nothing to help soften the land other then cement and cars.

Lori rushed us and i kicked out at her, she gripped the metal in my hands, the kick got her in the chest and sent Jonathon and i backwards into the wall of the building. I elbowed him in the face and then turned and ran for the doors. I was tackled to the ground painfully and i was twisted to face them and i stared at the metal in Lori's hands.

"You'll like what we have to show you, i promise," she said smiling at me widely, "your brother loves it, thinks you will too."

"What?" i said confused and then twisted just enough to get my head out of the way as she brought it down over my chest. I struggled even more but every time i did, it was like Jonathon got stronger. He probably did.

I head butted him again and then swore, it was like heat butting a rock, "ow!" i shouted moaning at the urge to rub my now throbbing forehead. They laughed. That pissed me off, and i felt this warmth spread over me. Fire. It was fire.

I felt my eyes light with flames and fuelled my rage i let it burst from me. For a moment his grip became stone like and i felt something in my arms crack and i cried out as he fell away from me and i stumbled up. Jonathon rushed me and my hands burst with flames as i swung at him, and send him backwards and into the railing, i turned only to get punched in the right side of the face by someone i could only stare at in retalliation.

I turned to run the other way, terror taking control and something hard and heavy was shoved into my chest instantly.

I froze, staring at Lori who looked utterly triumphant. I gripped the rusting metal know protruding from the top right of my chest and i swallowed thickly. My hole body seemed to have frozen over and i could hear people shout my name. But all i heard was rushing water.

I stared at the familiar face, almost thinking this was a dream and i swayed now, still gripping the disgusting metal. "You'll thank me when you wake up," he said, a sort of happy smile on his face. I felt something warm slide down the side of my mouth and something thick and warm slide down my chest as well. Blood.

Jonathon stood in front of me suddenly and then kicked out, sending me flying over the ledge and into the ground waiting for me. I heard even more shouting, but all i saw were the stars up above me as i fell. Then everything went dark.


	19. Hope For The Best, Expecting The Worst

**Chris POV**

I froze as soon as Jonathon kicked out at Mara. Someone sucker punched me and I spun, shoving my palm forward and breaking their nose. I took the opportunity to reach forward and twist their neck.

Then I was running, all of us were. Brandon was tackled my someone and Adam got shot at, but I still didn't have enough to time to get under her. The crash was resounding. All of the surrounding vehicles went off in unison.

The fight had ended as soon as Mara had fallen from the building, all of the gifted kids were long gone by now and sent home. And all that was left was Michelle, myself, Adam and Brandon.

Each of us rushed for her, but not one of us managed to get to her in time to break the fall. She landed on top of a car, crushing it and caving it in on impact. Smoke rose, along with the sound of more sirens and the car horn a second later.

A lot of the other cars had caught fire, ours had been blown to bits, probably by someone else who controlled fire and that was when Adam had ordered everyone home. The fight had gone well, until we realized there were people just watching the fight. It didn't take long to pin point who they were.

Each of us got to the car around the same time and we stared up at the three shadowy figures staring down at us. Adam lifted his gun and began shooting, they disappeared a moment later. I hesitated, I didn't know if we should touch her. But we couldn't leave her here either. Could we even take her back to the house? That didn't seem wise somehow.

"Is she breathing?" I muttered as Adam reached forward, pressing two fingers to her throat.

"I don't know, if she is I can't tell," he said fear clouding his eyes.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Adam suddenly shouted, punching Brandon hard.

"We weren't supposed to be ambushed!" he said rushing him and then hitting him back. "Don't blame me! She told you this was a bad idea!"

"That's enough, we don't have time for this!" Michelle shouted, shoving them apart and glaring at them.

I gripped the metal in her chest and ripped it out. She didn't move an inch. I took a deep breath, pushing back the nausea and then jumped onto the top of the car. It rocked slightly and I felt my gut twist at the sight. It was hard to see much considering how caved in the car had been, but I got a full view of the damage and I thought I was going to be sick.

She was covered in rivers of blood and she looked so pale I would've thought she was a doll. Her lips were parted slightly, and her eyes were closed, for a moment it was a slight relief. It meant she hadn't died on impact. Not that the sight before me was much more reassuring. Now we had to keep her alive, assuming she was still alive. I lifted her into my arms as gently as I could and she felt unnaturally cold. I couldn't tell if any bones were broken, but I imagine some were.

"Oh Jesus," Michelle whispered staring at the girl in my arms in horror. It was unusual, considering how bad things could get, she was almost always the one giving orders and I wasn't entirely sure what to do here. What would she tell us to do if it were someone else in this position?"

"Call the house, tell them to get everything prepped for surgery," I said to Adam, who was just staring at her in horror. "Now!" I shouted and he flinched and then nodded furiously. Brandon pulled up with a mini van and we piled in, Adam barking orders into the phone.

I still couldn't get a pulse and she seemed to get paler with every second, though that didn't surprise me, she was bleeding endlessly. I didn't even know someone could bleed so much.

Bella was out of the door the moment we pulled up, I opened the door, and she stopped short, freezing as she stared at Mara's bleeding form in the backseat. "Is she-," Bella couldn't get the words out. I lifted Mara into my arms gently and Bella let out a horrified sound when blood dripped to the floor as if poured from a cup.

"I need you functional," Brandon said, grabbing her and guiding her back into the house. Everyone seemed to have been waiting in the living room when we entered.

"What the hell happened?" Sam breathed as we rushed past them towards the basement.

Adam stayed upstairs to fill them in on what happened and check out the rest of the injuries. Brandon, Bella and I got prepared for surgery.

She was alive, kind of, her heart didn't give out so much as it was weak through the entire thing. To the point where you could take a deep breath before it beat again. I think that scared us the most, the wait every time it made the smallest movement. The barest sign that she was alive.

Her heart stayed that way. We got her hooked up to an IV, heart monitors, ventilator and everything else she needs to be connected to. She still wasn't moving. Bella didn't leave her side until Dean, Sam and I had to force her to leave. She was covered in blood and she was starting to freak everyone out a little.

She shoved past us, going downstairs into the living room where Brandon, Danielle and Jason were talking quietly. "This is your fault!" she yelled furiously, lunging for him instantly.

I rushed towards them, only for her to punch me in the face the second I laid hands on her. I ignored the shocks of pain in my left cheek. "Bella stop!" I shouted wrapping my arms around her and pulling her away from Brandon, noticing a few people enter the room having heard the fight.

She head butted me and I groaned, as blood broke free and I leaned by head backwards. "For Christ sakes get off of him!"

She didn't move for Brandon again right away. "You know better! What the fuck were you thinking getting all drugged up out there!" This time she went after him, hitting him so hard he went flying over the table and into the ground. She was moving crazy fast, even for us. She was pissed. She jumped over it, gripping his shirt and slamming him against the wall.

"We weren't supposed to be ambushed!" he shouted, shoving her off and then dodged the next blow.

"And that's makes it okay? Your partners Brandon! You should've been watching her back, if you hadn't been so coked out she might not be two seconds from death!" Bella shouted at him hatefully.

"Enough," I shouted, breaking through the argument and accepting the towel Danielle handed me wordlessly, pressing it to my bleeding nose. "Mara needs us rational right now, including you Bella! Not picking fights with your brothers!"

"And where were you, I heard you were on the same fucking floor as them!" she said accused me glaring just spitefully.

"We started a riot, that was the idea, I was a little held up, its her own fault for taking the drugs in the first place. No one meant for this to happen, it was a routine trial gone wrong and this is one of the few times I'm going to tell you to check your temper, because it's not doing any good!" I shot at her in return, trying to make the words clear, but the towel covering my mouth and nose wasn't helping much for clarity.

"Everyone calm the fuck down before someone gets hurt!" Adam cut in a loud voice that made all of us pause. But not Bella.

"Fuck you Adam! This is more your fault then anyone elses! If you hadn't been so hell bent on pissing her off we wouldn't even be arguing about this right now! She told all of you that you weren't ready and now she's the one paying for your ego!"

"She's not going to die," a voice cut in quietly, and we all turned to stare at Patrick who wore an 'oh shit' look on his face. As if he hadn' t meant to say it out loud. Well he'd gotten our attention anyways.

"Did you have a vision of her?" Bella asked, he nodded, "she's going to wake up right? She'll be okay? Tell me she'll be okay."

He hesitated, "she'll wake up, but I can't tell if she'll be under someone elses control or not. It was too blurry."

"You said the visions of the other kids were blurry," I accused, so why wasn't he sure? I wonder why they were blurry in the first place. Bella had mentioned that her fiance's sister could see the future, but couldn't see the werewolves because she wasn't one. She saw humans and vampires because she had been human before being a vampire, obviously. So it made sense that seers could only get clear images of similar people. I wonder if Patrick could see humans, I mean, he wasn't born human per se, but he was one more or less, just with a few adjustments.

"I don't know, I can't tell exactly. It's as if she's resisting it, the images aren't clear because they keep changing," Bella and my other brothers all shared looks with one another. That was a good thing right?

"Do you know if the other psychic kids resisted the control?" I asked, being realistic but hoping for the best. We needed Mara. We couldn't do this without her, she was the one that kept us together. I don't know what we would do if she woke up a different person.

"I don't think so, they didn't know what was happening until it was too late. Mara had time to prepare for what might happen."

No one moved for a long moment, all of us just staring at him and he looked more then a little awkward under everyone's stare. I ran a hand through my hair, at least she was going to wake up right? That was something.

"We need to make preparations in case she isn't herself when she wakes up," I said, dreading the feeling of guilt I had. I felt like I was betraying her or something. Planning against her. But we had other people in the house that needed to be looked after and she would do the same thing.

Bella just collapsed onto the couch, staring off into space. "What'd you have in mind?" Dean asked, frowning at Bella.

"Well for starters we wont be able to stay here. She designed all of the security programs and everything else, we can use one of our other safe houses. She knows where all of them are, but she didn't create the hardware for all of them," Adam said, following my train of thought.

Brandon move to the entryway and hit a button on the wall, "everyone pack up and be prepared to leave."

"We'll continue the training, there isn't a whole lot we can do. She was the one with the plan," I said lamely, the room in the air becoming thick and tense. I sighed, and dropped down onto the couch next to Bella, "I'm sure she'll be fine B."

"I doubt it."

"Don't be so cynical, it's Mara were talking about," she just gave me a dark look and I continued. "Remember that time you were picked up at the LAX and we had no idea what had happened to you."

She frowned, tilting her head slightly. "Yeah."

"You were so out of it the entire time that when the tranquilizers wore off and you finally woke up, you thought it was all a dream?" she nodded once. I remembered that week well. "We had no idea what had happened to you. Only twelve people in the FBI knew and man you should've seen her."

"You guys told me it only took two days to find me," she accused.

"Because it only did that two days. When you didn't show up at the house, she called the airport. They had it on file you'd boarded, but never got off. She went through the video feeds and then she was pissed when she figured out they'd been tampered with. She left for a whole day, there was an explosion at FBI headquarters and she came back with the Director and she beat him to a bloody pulp. It took her less then four hours to get him to give us your location. They had you on lockdown at a maximum security prison in San Diego. They were going have you executed the next morning. By the time we got there it was four in the morning. She was fucking untouchable when we stormed through the building. It took less then five minutes to get in, get you, and get out. She'd managed to kill every single person that had anything to do with you during that time."

She stared at me for a moment, remembering some of it, but virtually none of the more interesting details. Yes, Mara was a force to be reckoned with when it came to Bella. She always had been. I'd remembered that whole thing well. It was one of the reasons Mara's name had shot to the top of the United States most wanted list. Before we were wanted, sure, but when they realized how close Bella was to Mara, they thought they could make Mara trip up by taking Bella out of the picture. No one messed with Bella after that. The video footage of that morning was clear warning to stay the fuck away from her.

"That's not comforting, if she wakes up under someone elses control that's like saying the most powerful person in the united states is someone elses pet," Sam broke in, unease set in his features.

"He's making a point," Bella said, rolling her eyes at him, "Mara is the strongest person I know. If anyone can resist being take control of, it's her."

"And if she can't, were all screwed," Dean added.

Bella just shrugged, "either way, were going to be prepared. I'm going to check on her."

Bella left the room and we all sat there quietly for a moment. "You really think she can beat the mind control thing?" Dean asked skeptically.

Then Bella flew into the room wide eyed and freaked out, "she's gone!"

"Gone?" I repeated, standing and running up the stairs.

I threw open her bedroom door, sure enough all of the monitors were turned off, the window open and she was nowhere to be seen. Adam and Brandon and I shared look, "get everyone out of here, I'll check the cameras."

They nodded, and I went to the security room. I could hear everyone else running around and I heard the cars start up. I went through the feeds and watched Danielle go up the stairs with a sort of dazed look on her face. Then she went into Mara's room. I flipped to another camera and I couldn't see into the room, but I watched both Mara and Danielle jump out the window, less then two minutes later Bella went into the room.

"Danielle's missing," Bella said, entering the room.

"Yeah, she went with Mara," I said sighing. I replayed the video for her and Bella just shut down after that. She watched the feeds twice before Brandon came in, "everyone's waiting."

He walked up behind us, watching the video himself and then stared at Bella. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Yeah, me too," she said bitterly, and then walked out of the room.

We shared looks for a moment and then went down into the garage. Bella wasn't there.

"Where's-," the sound of the fire alarm cut me off. Bella came into the garage, looking more calm then I'd seen out of her in the last few weeks.

"Did you just set the house on fire?" I asked as she got into the passenger side.

"No," she said dismissively, shrugging once.

I pulled out after everyone else, and then gave Bella a look, the whole right side of the house had caught fire and the flames were very high. "That's going to piss her off," Dean said staring back at the house.

"I doubt that," Bella contradicted in an even tone, as if she couldn't care less about the fact that she'd set her girlfriend's house on fire.

"Bella are you sure your okay?" Sam asked from behind me.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" nobody responded.


	20. Now Why Would You Do A Thing Like That?

**Bella POV**

_"Happy Birthday!" the room chorused around me. I was smiling, but my face was beat red because of all the attention. I leaned forward, blowing out the fourteen candles on the red velvet cake. Everyone clapped, and Renee stepped up to my right and began cutting out pieces of the cake. _

_Everyone hugged me and I gave the appropriate thanks and smiles, but I couldn't wait for this all to be over. My friends babbled on and on about the things I held no interest in and I tuned in whenever someone looked at me. I hated my birthday, the attention, the showering of gifts I didn't want. I couldn't care less about such trivial things. Presents from other people, meant to have thought and purpose, a trinket of our friendshp, probably all bought at the closest store last minute. It was all so fake. Everything was. _

_The hurriedly made cake Renee had put together when my cousin had called to wish me a happy birthday. Renee had forgotten about my birthday again, for the third year in a row. Nowadays she was more focused on her recent beau and had no time for me. I didn't mind, it meant I got to live the life I chose without family consequences. _

_I opened my gifts, most of them girly things, thus proving my guess that they'd all been bought last minute. My whole birthday was last minute. I'd known it would probably be this way, actually I'd expected next to nothing. Though it didn't make it hurt any less. I wished someone would actually take the time to notice me because they genuinely loved me, hell they didn't even have to love me, they just had to enjoy my company or be grateful of our friendship. I wasn't sure what was worse, getting nothing, or getting everything half assed. God I hated this world sometimes. _

_"What's wrong?" Dylan, my current boyfriend asked, coming into my bedroom. "All your friends are downstairs." Friends my ass._

_"Have they even noticed I'm gone?" I said in a flat voice. I'm sure if I went down there and tried to delude myself into thinking they did care I would enjoy myself, but that's just pathetic. I shouldn't have to pretend to be happy on my birthday just so they dont feel bad. Why should I fake my joy for their group guilt. _

_"Who cares, it's your birthday, live it up, go wild," he said, giving me a small kiss. I kissed back tensely. I didn't like when Dylan or anyone else touched me for that matter. People just seemed to always want to touch one another in some kind of intimate way and I didn't want intimate. _

_Dylan had been outlet, but I'd gotten tired of him quickly. Now I was just going through the motions. He'd get bored too, eventually, and then we'd be over and it would be as if it never happened. A brief time in life, shared with someone that I disliked just on principle. _

_Dylan had always been nice to me, almost in a suck up kind of way and I've seen my friends date people like that. They usually turned out to be cheaters. But everyone seemed to bounce from one person to the next and constantly people asked me why I never dated. 'Why', they ask, 'aren't you lonely?' I would say the same thing every time, 'I can be alone but never be lonely'. _

_But nobody likes a third wheel, much less being the third wheel. I was no different. So when Dylan asked for the twelfth time (yes, I really do keep count), I agreed. Now I generally only met up with him when I was third wheel, or fifth, even seventh wheel at one point. _

_"You dont want to see my wild," I said coldly, and then mentally cringed. I was trying to get out of the habit of being so hostile. Maybe it was daddy issues, mommy issues, trust, family, there's a long of issues I have, pick one for a reason. Then added, jokingly, "baby, you couldn't handle me bad."_

_He grinned a little, having not even heard the icy voice, and only the words. Didn't everything else matter so much more then the actual verbalization. It's how I'd survived, how I'd gotten in and out of trouble. Sometimes it was guess work, other times you could just see people so clearly. Or at least I could. Like how I thought my 'bestfriends' were total airheads. But really who would have me? _

_I was cold, hostile, dark. You can't show those things to people. It was dangerous. It was scary and I'd worked so hard to hide what truly went through my mind. I was good at it too. So good, that occasionally I even let myself get lost in facade. I usually got nauseous after a while though. _

_Everyone saw this horrible liar, sweet and gentle girl. Compassionate and self sacrificing. Of course that was all total bullshit. Even my eyes lied. Quite frankly I found that inner voice that I tune out or filter out of my voice rather seductive. Always egging me on to do the bad things, the things that would feel good. But no, I couldn't do that, I wanted heaven, just like everyone else and I was sure as hell that doing evil didn't get you there, as sure as knowing the world isn't flat. _

_"I think I could handle it," he retorted, still with that shit eating grin on his face. If only you knew, if only you knew._

_"Let's go back downstairs," I suggested, changing the subject before I gave in and showed him what really lurked under the surface._

_I laid on my back in bed staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, but could've only been minutes. I had my hands knotted together, cushioinng my head with my arms crossed beneath it. I was just staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. _

_Life was so strange to me. Everything always just fel t wrong to me. Maybe because I was acting all the time. It made me uncomfortable, constantly thinking through every move I made down to the tone in my voice. Sure it was for the best, the world couldn't handle a monster like me, could contain or tame something as dark as me._

_If I was being honest with myself, and I almost always was, I didn't even know how deep that darkness inside of me went. I think I used to know, but not anymore. After alli'd been doing things for years now. Probably since I was a child._

_"Sweetie?" a voice said from the door and I glanced over at Renee. _

_I didn't want to deal with her right now. She'd pissed me off. No wonder why I was so angry all the time, I had shitty parents. One that forgets I even exist, and another one that overlooks me, only showing me off when it was for her benefit. "Get out."_

_"I know your upset about your birthday, but you have to see it from my point of vice," she said as if I were being unreasonable. I quirked an eyebrow, she was making a shit apology. _

_"And what might that be?" this time I'd let the under the surface rage show a little in my voice. I didn't want to frighten her, but I wanted her to realize just how selfish she could be. I was selfish too, but I'd buried who I truly was for the sake of the sanity of those around me and possibly even my own. _

_"I've been very busy lately, it's not my fault I forgot," I snorted slightly, how lame is that?_

_"You haven't been busy, you've been getting busy, with that asshole Carter," I said darkly. I checked my temper, taking a low deep breath. If I let go of my hold on the darker side of me, I wasn't sure I'd be able to re-gain control and that was a scary thought. It was the reason I was so determined to keep it at bay, regardless of how exhausting was,_

_"Dont take me like that, I'm your mother," she snapped. _

_"Some mother, you forgot your only child's birthday, how does someone forget about something like that? Should I start circling the number on the calendar, or better yet, let's celebrate the day you got to finally start drinking again. I'm sure you'd remember it then. It's fucking September Mom, my birtday's the second week, did you not realize what month it is or some shit?"_

_"Well no," she said defensively, "I wanted to share some good news with you, but I dont think I will now."_

_"Oh no, whatever will I do," I said sarcastically._

_"If you can't act mature then maybe I shouldn't be giving you so much freedom. Your clearly growing into a delinquent."_

_"Your one to talk and isn't my bad attitude a reflection on the mother?" I shot, smirk in place. _

_"Dont be ridiculous, grow up, and your grounded," she said storming out, slamming the door so hard a photo frame crashed to the floor from the sudden wall shaking, shattering on impact. _

_"Did you just throw something at me?" she asked furiously, storming back into the room. _

_I hadn't even moved since she'd come in. "No, but I kind of wish I had."_

_She left. _

_I wasn't sure what had possessed me to do it, but after Renee left to Carter's I began packing a backpack. Some grounding, she's not even hear to keep guard. Not that she could stop me from leaving, or stop me from doing anything for that matter. No one could._

_I emptied out my bank out, I'd been working at the local pet store. Animals dont give me head aches, talk non-stop or royally piss me off on a daily basis. I'd tried to work at a restaurant nearby, but I couldn't handle it._

_I tossed my phone into the garbage on the way out and then went to the bus station. I didn't care about the money, I barely spent it. Just left it all in my account for college or anything else I might want in the future. It was a wise decision. I wasn't even sure why I worked, something to pass the time I guess, or I just needed to get away from Renee and Carter for a few hours. They drove me nuts. _

_I'd always wanted to visit Los Angelos, so I figured I could go there. Maybe get another job, it sucked being this young, you couldn't do jack shit. I was pretty good at getting what I wanted, practicing different smiles and making my eyes soft and innocent. _

_**Mara POV**_

_I was at one of my favorite bars, it wasn't very late and I decided to go out for a cigarette. I could always light one up in here, no one would stop me. No one ever tried to stop me unless they didn't know me. Everyone who knew anything or was an actual part of my scene, knew who I was. Sometimes knowing me was the one that kept you alive. Not in the way you might think though. People in my world tended to be rude and more then a little confrontational. If you didn't recognize me and you go up in my face, it wouldn't end in me telling you off, it would end in the beating of a life time, a trip to emerge, and possibly land you six feet under depending on my mood. I wasn't very forgiving. _

_Someone brushed past me through the thick crowd as I was going through my texts on the way out. But the strangest scent washed over me. Familiar, and yet completely foreign. Sweet darkness, reminding me of angels. Sure the world thought they were loving and protectors and blah, blah, blah. People forgot they were warriors, ruthless and vicious fighters. That's what this person made me think of. The truth behind an angels face, it's cruel darkness, I wonder if they had the face of an angel. _

_I had frozen in my steps and once I'd found myself craving that scent again, I turned around to search out the person that it belonged to. Much to my surprise, it was a girl. She was short and slender, long dark, kind of coffee brown hair with a slight wave to it. I think a few people had noticed my guarded expression for her, and one or two looked surprised and even a little worried. If I had this expression for someone they didn't recognize it could mean one of several things. One, she was part of my past and that could get messy, or two, I wanted her, and that could messy depending on how I wanted her. _

_Cigarette completely forgotten, I slipped my phone back into my back pocket and went to sit at the booth next to the bar, a few feet from where she sat down. The booth was full, I stood there, saying and doing nothing and the table cleared out instantly. I sat down, pouting a little when I saw that she still had her back to me. I hadn't even seen her face, but I got the feeling she was beautiful. Even from her I could feel her innocence, but it wasn't just that, no, it was so much more. She was dark. She was dark like me and I already knew I wanted her. _

_**Isabella POV**_

_I had spent several days handing out resumes and found myself going from bar to the next. I knew enough people that I'd been able to get some fake papers made. It was expensive, but I didn't think an employer would dig too deeply into who I was. _

_I found myself walking past a dark alley and paused. I could hear music, and it was loud enough to make the ground tremble slightly. There were no lights, but I saw a small group of men standing outside a steel door smoking. _

_It was too tempting to pass up. I moved down the alley and all of them stared at me, "hey hot stuff, want to join the party?" one asked, grinning wickedly. _

_I got a weird feeling about this, but it was a good feeling. I stared at the man, amused, "not with you I dont," I retorted, brushing past them and going inside. _

_It turned out to be a club, and it was packed. Everyone looked kind of hard, kind of rough. I had no doubt in my mind that everyone in here was a criminal of some sort. I liked this. It felt right. _

_I went to the bar, a few people glancing at me. I wasn't exactly dressed for clubbing, just boots, jeans and a dark blue tanktop. "Can I get you something?" the bartender asked as I sat down on a stool. He didn't even card me. That's weird. _

_"Just a beer," I said, gazing at the sea faces around the room. He returned, and I handed him the money, before turning back to observe the crowd. Some of the room appeared to be underage, but it was obvious that other's weren't and yet everyone was drinking. Weird. I liked it._

_Unintentionally I met the gaze of another man down the bar and he winked at me. I thought was a little amusing, and then took a pull from the bottle in response. He stood, walking around the bar after I finished it. I'd practically chugged it like water. _

_"Can I get you another drink?" he asked, leaning against the counter. _

_"I can afford my own," I said, hoping he'd get the point. _

_"How bout a dance then?" he said, not put out with my cold indifference._

_"No, I dont dance," I said, giving him a look that said 'fuck off'. _

_Either he didn't notice or chose to ignore I wasn't sure, he raised his hand to push the hair off my shoulder. "Come on, loosen up, have a little fun."_

_"I'm not in the mood," I said, suddenly irritated. He kind of reminded me of Dylan. So fucking persistant._

_He leaned forward, sliding his hand on my thight and I tensed at the surprise invasion. "I can put you in the mood."_

_"Fuck off," I said going to stand, he grabbed my wrist. I raised the bottle, jolting it and sending the contents all over his face. _

_"You little bitc-," a smooth silky voice broke him off. _

_"I believe the lady told you to 'fuck off' Brent, now do it," a girl said, appearing on the other side of me. _

_His eyes went wide, obviously recognizing her and fearing her. "S-sorry," he disappeared. _

_I looked around, people staring straight at me. They had a fascinated look in their eyes and I realized why. The girl. I glanced over at her, an even slightly amused look on her face. I figured I should stop staring or she'd get the wrong idea. For some odd reason I didn't want her to think I was weird. But I also got the feeling she'd never think that. Who was she?_

_Our eyes stayed connected for a moment, both of us reading each other wholly. She was like me. That almost seemed impossible. "I'm Mara," she said, giving me a smile, finally, having seen whatever it was she was looking for. _

_"Isabella," I said, glancing back at the stunned whispering crowd. She didn't even seem to notice. I doubt if she had noticed, she'd care. She couldn't be much older then me, probably one of the youngest people in here, which also led me to wonder why everyone looked at her so cautiously. Her parents maybe? Somehow, that didn't fit right. _

_"If I ask to get you another drink, are you going to throw it at me?" she asked, grinning even more, flagging the bartender down. _

_"No promises," I said, smiling a little. She was beautiful, I realized, so obviously beautiful. And dark. It was all in her eyes, the merciless dangerous creature hiding away in her mind. Only she'd embraced it and I buried it. _

_We ordered two shots each this time, with the beer and then just sat silently for a moment. "So what are you doing in a place like this. You dont look like you've been in this world before," she observed, no judgement, just open curiosity. _

_"I ran away," I said, unsure of whether or not to tell the truth. My filted had just failed me, I'd spoken without thinking. For some odd reason I trusted this girl._

_"Now why would you go and do a thing like that?"_

_"Dont ask," I said rolling my eyes at the stupid argument Renee and I got into. _

_"Family huh?" she guessed, eyebrows raised. I just shrugged. "How long you been running?"_

_"I dont know, two weeks maybe," she chuckled. _

_"It all makes sense now, you shouldn't wander into Underground clubs without a weapon, do you have any?"_

_"No, weapons weren't at the top of the list of things to pack," I said rollng my eyes at myself. I knew I should've gotten one, but it had slipped my mind. _

_"Where are you staying?"_

_"You ask a lot of questions," I said frowning. _

_"Of course, how else do you get to know someone? If you dont have a place to crash, you can stay with me. We have a few spare bedrooms," she offered, a little hopefully. I began to wonder just what it was she saw in my eyes. I got the feeling whatever she wasn't the kind of person to just offer a stranger a place to stay._

_"Are you going to try and murder me in the middle of the night?" I had to ask, she was sketchy and just because I felt like I could trust her, doesn't mean I do. If she was like me, she was a good liar too. _

_"Not tonight, already had homicidal nutjob for breakfast, maybe tomorrow though," I laughed a little at the lame joke and then just nodded. There was just something so fascinating about this girl, and I wanted to know what it was._

_Mara and I left the club at three in the morning and it was pouring out. Both of us were soaked when we got into her silver BMW. "Where do you live anyways?" I asked curiously, words slurred slightly. _

_"We have a house in Holmby hills," she said, glancing at me when I just stared. _

_"That's an expensive neighbourhood, who the hell are you parents?" I asked in disbelief. _

_She grinned crookedly, "it's my house, I dont have parents."_

_"Where did you get all the money?" I asked suspiciously. _

_"Let's not ruin the surprise," she said evenly, turning the radio on low._

_I'd had a good time tonight. Mara had this way about her that made you want to get closer, to get to know her. Or it was just me considering everyone seemed to be terrified of her. We hadn't talked as much as I would've thought, neither of us felt the need to break the easy silence._

_We pulled up to the house, having past dozens that were probably millions of dollars. Her's was no different. There were a lot of windows, most of them on the ground level, I'd always liked modern contemporary houses. _

_"It looks like everyone's home," she said, glancing at the cars and bikes lined up in the driveway._

_"If you dont live with your parents, who do you live with?"_

_"Friends, well more like brothers I guess," she said thoughtfully, leading us up the steps and into the house. Loud music poured out the door, the sound coming from a room at the back of the house. _

_"What's with the meat?" a dark haired boy asked her, gesturing at me. I got the feeling she didn't bring people home often. _

_"It's called making friends, you should try it sometime," she said amused, "Bella, Tyler, Tyler Bella," she introduced and I gave an awkward wave. I thought alcohol was supposed to make you feel more confident? My liquid courage had failed me. Then I realized why I was nervous. He was like us and I got the sneaking impression they all were. I hadn't met people like me before tonight. We kind of just held one another's gaze, and nodded slightly, mostly to Mara. He approved I guess._

_"I have friends, they're here right now in fact, currently fighting over who cheated during the pool match," he said coolly. As if on cue, a crash sounded and two boys flew into the hallway and onto the ground fighting. _

_"Twenty says Brandon wins," Mara said right away._

_"Deal."_

_She led us upstairs to her room, having grabbed a bottle of vodka from the kitchen. "You have a nice house," I said impressed. _

_"Yeah, well, pays to be a criminal, pays even more when you never get caught," she said, a wicked smile on her face. I was in the love with that smile instantly. It gave me goosebumps and butterflies, scaring me and exciting me at the same time. Somehow I just knew she would always make me feel that way, and that sent another shiver down my spine. _

_"And just how big and bad are you?" I asked teasingly. _

_"You'll see," she said evenly, promising to show me just how dangrous she really was. I wanted to see it. She was just over flowing with this dark vibe and I wanted to all of it. To experience every secret she had, both of us knowing full well that I'd enjoy the ride. _

_Her room was painted, all of them displaying some kind of picture. One was a waterfall with three wolves and two cubs playing. The second was writing in a language I didn't recognize. The third was constellations and the last one a panther in a field under the moon._

_"Did you paint all this?" I didn't try to keep awe out of my voice, it was amazing. _

_"Yeah, a few months ago, took a while but it was worth it," she went into a walk-in closet and then emerged with clothes. "These should fit you, were pretty much the same size," she offered me a red tank top and black shorts. _

_We made a bunch of food, not intending to eat all of it and then finally crashed watching the first two Saw movies. Mara and I both seemed to have a sick sense of humor. Only she let it show without remorse or guilt. _

_Sometime later on that night, I'd managed to move closer to her, it felt weird not being as close as I could. As if it were normal, like I'd known her all my life and I slept in her arms every night. Even my body and subconsious seemed to want to be near her. And instead of pushing me away half asleep, she tugged me towards her and into her arms with her back facing the wall and me facing outward. Being like this just felt oddly perfect, maybe not perfect so much as it feels like it's supposed to be this way._

_I couldn't help but feel almost lucky and relieved. I'd never thought I would belong somewhere. But I knew I belonged here in this dangerous stranger's arms. I felt like I'd finally come home. I just hope they wanted me to stay as much as I wanted them._

**Chris POV**

_Great_, now Bella was losing her mind. I almost preferred her picking fights with everyone. "So did anyone know what Mara's all amazing plan was for us after finished training?" Luke asked, through the radio that linked each car. They were handless, which was handy, right now it just added to the already silent edge in our car.

"Did someone say Bella lit the house on fire?" Adam asked suspiciously.

"Of course, dont be ridiculous," I said, mostly for Bella's benefit. She didn't seem to notice, or care, for that matter.

"No, we heard it too," Brandon said, and I could just see him rolling his eyes at my obvious back up to Bella's not so subtle meltdown. Maybe it was subtle, I glanced in the rearview mirror. Sam was looking at his brother, with an 'oh god, she's going to lose it and were standing in close range' look on his face. Well, I guess it wasn't subtle after all.

"Who cares, she probably has dozens of houses, she only ever told me about four of 'em," Bella said openly, as if we were talking about the latest book we'd all read. Which, boringly enough, had been some demonology crap. God, I hated this studying thing. We were criminals, the only difference, in my opinion, with being a criminal rather then a cop was the non-existant paper work. I liked it that way. Hell, we all did. But the world kind of screwed us this time around.

"Where are we going?" Hunter cut in.

"Doesn't taking these cars seem kind of obvious. I mean, there Mara's vehicles, it wont be hard for her to find us if she wants to. The girls a freak of nature-," Bella cut off Michelle in a 'don't fuck with me' that sounded a lot like Mara's.

"Be careful Michelle, start mouthing off then Mara wont be the most recent dead psychic kid."

"I'm just saying the girl is nuts, she probably has trackers in the cars or something! For all we know she probably put them in us when we were sleeping or something."

"That would explain why she told Bella to sleep somewhere else," Jason added.

"I just figured Bella was a bed hog," Hunter through in.

I glanced at Bella, who looked more or less oblivious to the back-talk, or I guess it was more like getting up in someone's face without actually being in front of them. Either way, by the look on Bella's face she was mentally keeping score without actually listening to the jibe's. "She's kick your ass for opening your mouth," Brandon said distinctly to the psychic kids.

"Please, she needs us," Michelle said scoffing.

"Yeah, she needs you alive, she couldn't care less what kind of condition your in right about now," Adam said, clear smirk in his voice.

I glanced at Bella again and sighed. I turned the radio down, and opened a glove compartment. A small black bag, a tablet, a metal box and other random stuff sat in side. I just wordlessly lifted the black bag out, closed the glove box and dropped it onto her lap.

"I dont want to get stoned right now, thanks for the offer though," she said colding.

"I wasn't fucking offering. I'm demanding. Were going to be in this car for hours and I dont want to put up with you angry and ready to blow up the white house the entire way there. Get coked out, get stoned, knock yourself out for all I care, just dont be angry right now."

"Who put you in charge?" she sneered, but opened the bag anyways, more curious as to what goodies lay inside. Knowing Mara, there be everything from crystal meth to industrial strength tranquilizers to the best weed known to man. Or depending on whatever she'd put the bag together. Either way, she always payed top price for the best, or you know, at gunpoint.

"Well I dont know about you, but the last Adam took the rein's it didn't end so well, your in no position to give orders and Brandon's just at fault as everyone else. So that leaves me. Got a problem with it? Great! Take it up with customer service, I'm sure Sam will listen to you complain, or maybe Dean will be punching bag for the night."

"Alright, we get it," Dean burst, all three of them glaring at me, Bella took two of the sleepers.


	21. To Hell And Back

_If I went out the back door nobody would stop me_

_But where would I go?_

_Cause I ain't ever had a real home, so what do I know?_

_So I could keep running, hide until they find me_

_But what would that do?_

_If they could only know what I knew, what would it prove?_

_I should've seen the writing on the wall, instead I'm left to fall_

_Cause the longer I'm away, the more we stay the same_

_Looking back where I thought I knew it all, instead I'm left to fall_

_Did I throw it all away?_

**Mara POV**

**Two Days After Death**

So maybe just bailing hadn't been my brightest idea yet. And I've had some pretty bad ideas. But you know, when crazy start calling and putting a leash on you, your more or less screwed after that.

"I can't believe she burned down your house," Danielle said nudging a charred end table with her foot.

"Yeah, well, I pissed her off," I said shaking my head.

"You piss everybody off," Lori shot at me, entering the room, and tossing a burnt something over her shoulder.

"Cry about it," currently, Lori and I fought about every thing. The girl just did not like me. Or I didn't like her. I wasn't sure which. Maybe both.

"Enough," Raziel cut in, halting the beginning's of what was sure to end up in a huge argument and probably a fight. I think she just hated me because she could never get the best of me in a fight. But boy did I love giving her the chance. I just smirked at her glare.

"Where would they have gone?" Marcus asked me, and I couldn't help the weird feeling that swept through me when he spoke to me. I was pretty sure it was because he'd killed me. Well kind of. I was too pissed off when they gave me the details, but basically, since he controlled the two psychic kids who had killed me, he ordered them to transfer their control over me to him. Thankfully, he hadn't taken Danielle from me, but I didn't understand why her hadn't. Maybe he felt about killing his last living relative, his own damn twin sister. I doubted it though, maybe it was some part of the plan he refused to share with any of us.

I couldn't help but feel a little disgusted with myself. I couldn't stand when people held control over me, and by God, if someone did, I put a bullet in their skull with a wide smile on my face. But I couldn't kill Marcus, now could I? In fact I didn't want to, that whole being sired to him thing. But the thought made me want to vomit.

"How the hell should I know?" I retorted, trying to stomp down the feeling of guilt I got. I wasn't a person that felt a whole lot. Certainly not guilt, and never for a stranger, which is what Marcus was. I was kind of blaming everything on being dead. Whatever it was about dying that made us strong, also made us want to please the person that gave us this strength. Which meant Marcus. It also kind of made me want to cut out my tongue or gouge out my eyes. Or something just equally as disturbing.

"You practically own all those idiots, you should know," Aaron shot at me pointedly. Everyone was looking at me now, as if I had all the answers and I was purposefully being a bitch and not telling them. I kind of was. I didn't know where they'd go. Probably another safe house. But we each had about six of them.

"Well I dont, the second I woke up you started beckoning at me like a freaking dog, so you didn't exactly give me the chance to chat it up with them did you?" I said coldly.

"If there's a way to find them, do it," Raziel said to me, letting his powers flare, that horrid burning feeling washed over me. Reminding me this guy was an angel. An angel I wanted to punch in the face, but an angel none the less. I made a personal vow to kill the first chance I got.

I just rolled my eyes and left the room. I had to admit I wasn't that surprised to find out that Bella had burnt down the house. She was temperamental that way. I wished she'd been a little more thorough about it though. Danielle came running after me, looking a little freaked out. Then again, she'd had that look on her face since we'd left the first time. "You alright?" she asked me quietly, as we moved upstairs.

"Well I died a few hours ago and I'm chumming around with a bunch of sadistic seven teen year olds that filleted a man for fun less then ten minutes ago. How do you think I feel?" I didn't mean to sound so harsh. But I felt weird, kind of off. Not off. But kind of distant, more so then usual and it was annoying the crap out of me. Why did I feel that way? Danielle didn't when she woke up, so why did I?

"You, Bella, and the others are just as sadistic as they are." But they weren't pack, they weren't Bella, or any of them. So no, i didn't like them.

"Touche."

We searched the house, but the entire top levels were nothing but collapsing and falling pieces of charred wood now. The basement was mostly intact. I pushed through a door into the infirmary. There were three beds in here, and one had been just soaked in blood. I moved towards it, seeing a small body shape in the dried flakes. Mine I guess. For a moment I wondered what time I'd died at. But then just shrugged it off. It didn't matter anymore.

"Mara?" I glanced over at Marcus and raised my eyebrows. Surprisingly, he'd given me quite a bit of leeway. Of course I knew why, and Raziel disapproved, and I think it was one of the many reasons Lori disliked me so much. I think she had a thing for Marcus, and now I was his new favorite. More by default than anything.

When they'd mentioned my brother up on the roof at the club, it had confused the hell out of me. But sure enough, there he was. Someone that I had assumed was dead along with everyone else. He should've been. So why wasn't he? And how the hell was he a psychic kid? Many of the unanswered questions.

"We need to leave, the others have returned to the boarding house."

"I see," I said running a hand through my hair. "What are you doing with these people in the first place?"

He gave me an amused look now. "Isnt is obvious."

"Humor me."

"After what you did five years ago, Azazel took me in. Your one in the same Mara. Azazel did the exact same thing you had. Picked up the best and gave them a home. I though you'd be happy. Isn't this what you wanted? You have the opportunity to re-shape the world, take it. Give in. Everyone else loves it and you belong with us, not with a bunch of kids who can't face up to the fact that there as dark as the rest of us. Stop fighting us, you'll be happier," he just strolled out after that, not even giving me the chance to respond.

I glared at the doorway he'd just gone through and ran a hand through my hair. But that was the problem wasn't it. I resented Marcus, I had since the moment I laid eyes on him. He had five years to come find me. But he didn't. Then he shows up out of the blue, and takes me from the people I considered family. He took me from Bella. I moved towards the door, and then glanced back at the bed.

But dying did change something in me. I knew it had. I could feel it, or rather it was the lack of feeling that made it so real. Sure I was a murderer, I killed people for things that mattered, at least to me. If someone had ever tried to make a move against us, we'd rain down on them like hell. If someone even plotted against us, they wouldn't live to see sunset. If someone took us from the others, you were in for the beating of a life time. If you got in my face too many times, I'd remove you. I'd even killed someone for flirting with Bella once, but i think was Bella's way of making a point to me.

But all of the dead psychic kids were worse. In the last two days I'd seen them kill six people for basically nothing. And they loved it. It was kind of unbelievable at first. They all felt nothing. Well, they did feel, but not a whole lot. No love, no real happiness, just some kind of pleasure of pointless killing. They argued, and fought with each other, they destroyed things constantly and the only joy they felt was when they hurt people. Is that what I had to look forward to?

The idea didn't bother me so much if it weren't for the fact that I still had people to look out for. Or was that the old me? Feelings were fading fast. Feelings that used to matter were slowly being pushed out the door. Maybe I wouldn't be so hateful with my new family if I really did just give in. Sooner or later, Bella would be with me anyways. So why not just give in? Marcus was probably right, maybe I would enjoy it. After all, the old me had died. There was no going back now. Right?

I left the basement, going upstairs and met up with everyone else out on the yard. I passed a still smoking charred body and cringed a little at the smell. Bodies did not smell pretty when they'd been burned alive. "Let's go, already, I'm fucking hungry," Jonathon called out the passenger side window.

"What are we eating?" I asked, climbing in next to Danielle. She still stuck close to me. I wonder how I hadn't noticed her lack of emoting. Maybe it was because she saw that I still cared about people and she wanted to too. Which left the question, if I gave in, would she follow?

"Pizza," Lori said, pulling out of the driveway.

"You guys get pizza all the time. Eat something decent for once."

"But the pizza boys are so cute," Danielle interjected.

"Yeah, until you skin them alive," I pointed out. Everytime they got take out, they killed the delivery person. I wasn't sure what the point of getting delivery was, considering they gave them the address of an abandoned house or building just to kill them. But I had refrained from commenting. Everyone was just crazy bloodthirsty at the boarding house.

"You know, you have a point. Maybe we should stop killing the cute boys, what a waste of a perfectly fuckable person," Lori said thoughtfully. "We could always just play with them afterwards."

"That's disturbing on so many levels. What, your going to start screwing them and then killing them?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Because were not praying mantus'. Not that hard to get laid Lori."

"Says you, the last time I checked you were still hard up for a chick that's engaged to a guy," she shot at me smirk in place, "in case you couldn't figure out, I'm pretty sure that means she's over chicks, and I guess that means you too."

I didn't say a thing, just un-did my seatbelt and gave Danielle a look. She caught on pretty quickly and did the same thing. I tapped Lori on the shoulder, and as soon as she turned I struck out and hit her hard. "Fucking-," I didn't hear the rest and just threw myself out of the car as it began to spin uncontrollably. I hit the ground in a tumble and then scrambled off of the road when a black truck almost hit me dead on.

I sat up, a little winded, watching the car flip twice, twisting metal reached my ears and then it just slammed into a tree. Glass and bits of metal covered the road, and then the car fell away from the tree and onto it's now destroyed tires.

Danielle came to stand next to me. At least she knew what I was about to do. "You really need to see a therapist about your anger issues," she said, as we watched the steam, other cars slowed down to stop and probably help them.

Both Jonathon and Lori crawled out of the steaming and completely totalled car. They looked like shit. I felt very pleased observing there destroyed cocky expressions. "Nah, I kind of like venting my anger in unhealthy ways, I get to watch things like this," I said, as Lori stumbled into a stand, more then a little bloody and totally out of it. She hit the ground, passing out instantly. I smirked even more.

"Marcus is going to be pissed," Jonathon shouted at me glaring, blood sliding down his face.

"What's he gonna do? Kill me?" He collapsed now, passing out face down in the mud. Maybe I would enjoy this new found life after all.

"We should get out of here," Danielle suggested.

"Yeah, your right? Ever car-jack someone?"

She gave me a weird look and I just grinned. I walked towards the closest parked car. They'd stopped after Lori crashed. I opened the driver's side door and the woman screamed out loud. Her boyfriend or husband or whoever he was rushed for the car. When he got close enough I threw open the door hard, smacking him hard enough to send him sprawling backwards.

"Dumbass," I muttered, Danielle opened the passenger side door and the woman kind of just kept staring at me as if I were the devil himself. All I said was, "your in her seat."

She practically fell out of the car and I grinned when Danielle chuckled. Wasn't she nicer when I first met her? Here she was, laughing at a woman I managed to terrify doing basically nothing. That's kind of sad. How much darker could I have possibly gotten after dying? I didn't think there was anything much darker then what I'd already been.

I was only trying to keep Bella and the other's safe. That's because I didn't want her to become anyone's puppet. It can't be that bad right? I mean, Marcus was my brother afterall, he wouldn't make me possibly do anything that much worse then I was already capable of. I could keep Bella safe from them from the inside couldn't I? But now I kind of didn't want to. I felt, stronger somehow. More confident in what I wanted. What I wanted was Bella. But what I didn't want, was to take her any deeper into darkness then I already have. Not to mention, I was still going to die. Okay, so maybe I didn't know what I wanted anymore.

Start simple. Did I want Bella with me? Here? Hell no. That meant killing her, and I wasn't going to let anyone turn her into their butt-monkey. I might not have a choice. So, for starters, I still had to fix myself. Now, how the hell do I do that? I had no idea what's so ever, I didn't even know where to start looking. Maybe i should look into Azazel. This was going to get way too complicated.

There was a simpler solution though. Kill all the dead psychic kids for good. Second time would do the trick. But I needed to do that quickly, and un-seen. But then I'd have to kill the living psychic kids, and then a second time. There's no way I could kill that many people, that quickly without someone catching up to me. Well I did have Danielle. But I was under Marcus's control. If Marcus can control me, whose to say there isn't a way for someone else to even if I did cut his control over me. That made me a liability to Bella and the rest of my family. Would I have to kill myself too or something? I highly doubted I'd have it in me to do that. Well. Maybe. I guess it depends. Damn. I needed a new plan.

God only knows whose controlling my brother, cause I had no idea. I still didn't even have details of how he was still alive. Last time I checked, everyone from my normal biological family was dead. Then I wake up with my supposedly dead twin brothers voice in my mind. I made a note to find out what exactly happened five years ago, when we got to our new home.

My plan had far too many holes.

"Where are we going?"

"To the boarding house, I'm not sticking around to get arrested," I said shrugging, turning on the radio.

"The police are going to show up at the crash site and that woman and her boyfriend are going to report the car stolen. Your FBI's most wanted, every cop on this interstate will be looking for you," she foretold.

"Yeah, were uh, going to steal the cop car."

"What about when he calls the cops?"

"I dont think a deadman can call cops, you know, unless there the living dead. That's actually possibly, but doubtful."

She grinned, "should we chop off his head, just to be safe?"

"I can't see why not. Would you like to have the honor?"

"You read my mind," i smirked at that. Oh yeah, this whole dis-regard for everybody thing was normal for us now. Here i'd thought i was losing my mind.

Several hours later we pulled up to a huge old building outside of Salem. I thought it was a little cliche, but neither of us commented on it. "Why'd you total the car? You put them both in the hospital," Marcus questioned eyebrows raised disapprovingly, having come out onto the porch when we'd pulled up.

"Because Lori doesn't know how to keep her big mouth shut, I'm hungry," Danielle said dismissively, disappearing to search the grounds for dinner. I knew without a doubt, I could find her instantly if I needed to. It was weird, just a sort of knowing where she was. I wonder if my brother could tell who was where if he was in charge of so many of us.

I just grinned, "she's not wrong. Besides, I deserve some revenge, the three of you fucking killed me afterall."

"Get over it, that was ages ago," my brother said rolling his eyes.

"That was fourty eight hours ago asshole," I said glaring.

"But you gotta admit, being dead never felt better," he said all knowingly. I shrugged, and began moving through the house.

It was seemingly old and in a creepy hanted house way too, maybe late 1940's or something. There didn't appear to be a lot of the furniture, and as soon as I heard a crash, I understood why. A bunch of rowdy psychotic teenagers, yeah, i could see why the furniture was slowly diminishing in the house.

I could hear the others, they were scattered throughout the house. Things felt intense, louder, too. My senses seemed more intense, an extra after waking up dead i guess. "How'd you guys end up out here anyways?"

"Me," a voice said, and I spun, seeing a black eyed older woman. Demons. Great.

"There wasn't enough demon in the rest of us that you had to throw the pure bloods into the mix?" I asked my brother, unimpressed. She just smirked, as if she knew something I didn't. She probably did and I didn't like that much.

"They have their uses," was all he said, shrugging.

"What are you talking about? Throwing shit around with their minds, yeah, it's called dodgeball, I'm pretty sure we've all played sometime in our lives," I said in disbelief. I didn't like this much.

"Kali, why dont you go get Adrian," Marcus said, not taking his knowing gaze off of me.

"Whose Adrian?" I asked frowning.

"A demon," a horrible feeling of dread washed over me. I didn't like where this was going for some reason. We were strong dead, I mean, stronger then demons, in some ways. But still. Why would he need demons here?

"There's more then one here?" something just felt so wrong to me.

"Several. Haven't you ever done drugs before? Jesus, you sold enough of them the last couple years," he said rolling his eyes as if I was slow or something. How the hell did he know that?

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Someone appeared around the corner, they looked to be early twenties, and he looked thoughtful more then anything. I felt bad for the guy he was possessing, he was a good looking guy. Tall, decent build, probably worked out, dirty blonde hair, chiseled features. Then I realized something else. He looked a little like Dean. You know, without the harshness of being a hunter etched into his features. I bet they picked this guy on purpose, probably just to screw with me or something. This was too weird for me.

"Okay, so here's how this works. Azazel told me everything about what we are and what makes us so strong. It's demon blood, and it's more or less dormant in us. You'll get bits being the way you are, but nothing near as powerful as I want you. As I need you," oh god, this was going to end horribly. It wasn't hard to see where this was going it was making me feel kind of sick. Worse then sick. I think I'm going to throw up.

He was grinning widely now, like he'd bought me a puppy, "he'll give you small amounts at first. As much as he thinks you can handle. I personally picked out Adrian for you Mara," oh yeah, I was going to be sick. I felt like I was being pimped out by my own brother or something. Maybe not pimped out so much as, a blind date from hell or something, "Dont look so freaked out."

Finally, words formed, "Are you fucking insane?"

"Moot point, Mara. You can do this the easy way or the hard way. Just trust me, you'll love it."

"I'll love throwing my fist in your face if you dont let this go," I said coldly.

"No one will even know," he sounded like i was being the unreasonable one here.

"What the fuck Marcus? That's supposed to make your insane idea okay? I'm not okay with this! You know what? Fuck this! And fuck both of you!" I turned and began walking, brushing past the amsued demon and going for the door.

"Mara, stop," It was an order. I froze. Oh shit. I just froze up. Just stopped moving. Like my body wasn't even my own anymore. This was not a good feeling. "Go with Adrian, take what he offers you." Adrian walked past me and I just followed him like a good little lap dog.

I felt myself screaming and shouting and swearing at myself to resist all the way up the stairs. I was glaring at the demon, the entire way to the bedroom that was made up as my own. I couldn't stop anything I did. I couldn't really even form any words.

"Glaring at me wont make this any easier on you," the demon said, amused. I said nothing. "You might want to take your shirt off, it gets pretty messy the first couple times." He lifted off his shirt. Well I had been right about the working out thing. But I was not taking my shirt off for him. He shrugged when he realized this and I watched him walk across the room too close the curtains. "The other kids get nosy, climb the trees." Oh great, it was a sympathetic demon. Fan-fucking-tastic.

He moved across the room, locking the door, and flipped off the light. Leaving me standing in the small light that filtered through the deep red curtains. I couldn't see much of anything, until he moved closer to me. I jumed about a foot in the air when he appeared. Damn, it was really dark in here. Maybe it was the dark wall. Which also happened to be red.

He gave me a sort of crooked grin, putting his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back until I sat down on the bed. You know, I would've picked having sex with this guy over what was about to happen. It was making me nauseous, as if could be anymore nauseous.

He moved onto the bed, sitting behind me, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was so that I didn't have to see his face or something. But it wasn't helping. God. I wanted Bella. Jesus, what would she think if she ever found out about this? What would my brothers think? I just wanted to go home to my family. Instead, I was trapped in this weird abstract hell hole.

He lifted a small knife, cutting a straight line about four inches long on his forearm, and I grimaced as I watched the beads pool. I tensed as soon as he touched me, it was gentle, and when I didn't relax, he put enough pressure, leaning me back against him. I dont know why I expected him to be cold, but his skin was as warm as anyone elses.

"Close your eyes," he breathed into my ear and grudgingly, I did. I didn't think I could watch this.

I felt it more then anything and I clenched my jaw, but less then a second later my lips opened unwillingly. My hands gripped the blankets beneath me so tightly it made my entire hand hurt.

The taste was almost explosive and I couldn't deny the moan I made instinctively. It was like tasting chocolate for the first time after we being lost at sea for years or something. But better. So much better. The liquid slid down my throat, and this warmth spread through my body, bringing every cell alive with power and I just felt so strong. Like nothing could touch me. It was amazing, and then started fading, leaving a sort of calm in me.

My body was just humming with this electricity, a kind of adrenaline. Like I could reach out in my mind and flip a switch on it, giving me a grip on the crazy things that you could do if you had an adrenaline rush. It was my power, I could feel it as strong as if it were a body part. It was the strangest sensation I'd ever felt, an invisible switch on power, it was a good feeling. It was a powerful feeling. I felt fucking invincible.

The rest of my senses returned, I was laying down, I realized. Someone had their arm under me. They were running their hands through my hair, and I even felt them place a small kiss over my hair. For a moment, I could've sworn it was Bella. It was really dark in here. When had the sun disappeared? How long had i been laying here?

Then everything snapped into place and my world came crashing down. I pulled away instantly, having thrown my body straight off the bed and knocking over the lamp. My head smashed against the wall and I flinched. But the pain was lost on me instantly.

Adrian, if that was even his real name, looked surprised with the movement. He regarded me carefully, "are you okay?"

I just stared. Oh crap. What have I done? Oh god. Oh my god. I was hyperventilating. I was panicking. This was just totally fucked. I tried to take a deep breath, but my stomach was churning. Oh god, what was in my stomach only made me feel twice as digusted. I felt disgusted with myself. And god only knows how many showers it would take to get rid of this self hate. Not enough. "Dont get sick," he said quickly, "it'll be far worse coming up."

"Fuck you," I spat hatefully. He ignored me though, standing up and going into the private bathroom I had. He flipped on the light, and I could finally see the rest of the room in shadow. He returned a moment later with a glass of water in his hand. I took it gratefully, squeezing my eyes shut when I saw something red mix with the clear cool water.

Someone touched me on the shoulder lightly and I flinched hard enough to spill the remaining water on my face. My eyes snapped open and I stared at Adrian, or rather the demon. "Just breathe."

"Fuck you," I said, for the second time, but it sounded more defeated and I just let my head fall back against the wall.

"I'm sorry," I found that hard to believe. "I advised against it. But your brother insisted."

"Oh yeah, cause what he says goes right," I shook my head, which was still back against the walls and I swallowed thickly. A huge ball had grown in the back of my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut as they glazed over and watered, "just get out."

"You dont seem to be handling this well."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked, eyes snapping open and I turned to stare at him in disbelief. "I'm not handling this well? I want to set you on fire right now, and believe me I can." I felt really weird, kind of sideways, but a weird sideways. if that was possible.

"And yet, I get the feeling you wont," I struck out and punched him as hard as I could. He fell backwards, gripping his nose.

"That wasn't a very hard hit, I guess you still feel a little like jello," I gave him a dark look and he released his nose. But sadly, he was right. I felt off. I stood up too quickly, and when I almost fell backwards, he had moved behind me to help me stay righted. I pulled away from him, pressing my hand to the wall to stay standing.

"God I really fucking hate you right now," I ground out, as he stayed behind me the entire way to the bathroom.

"Get used to it, your stuck with me," I glared at him in the mirror. When I finally got a look at myself, I felt nauseous all over again. Red was smearing around my mouth, and down my chin, drops were splashed across my shirt too. I looked like a wild animal. I turned, shoved him out of the bathroom and slammed the door closed, locking it instantly.

I ran the tap, and fell backwards against the door. I glanced back at myself in the mirror and just turned off the light and let my body slide to the ground. A light tap sounded on the door and I just squeezed my eyes shut in return. Then I heard the door open in close in the bedroom. I was alone.

I let out a heavy sigh. I wanted Bella. Bella would never have let something like this happen. But no, I decided to screw everything up. God how I needed her right now. I felt my hands twitch, and pulled out my cell phone. Marcus had given me this disposable one for just in case purposes. I'm sure this wasn't the emergency he had in mind, but it fit my definition of emergency. I dialled her all too familiar number. I let out a shaky breath, hesitating at the last digit. It would be so good to hear her voice. I needed to hear her voice. But what would she say? What would i tell her? What could i tell her? I'd left. I'd just left. I'd bailed on her. I fucking abandoned her, again. She must really hate me now. Even if she wasn't mad and answered the call, she'd know i wasn't gone and she'd start looking for me. I couldn't let her do that. I needed her to stay safe.

But im pretty sure her burning down the house was her way of saying 'stay away' or something. I think that meant 'no' phone calls too. But again, I just needed to hear her voice, so badly that it made my chest ache painfully. No. I couldn't do that to her, or myself. I couldn't show weakness right now. Instead I just turned off the phone and sighed.

"God, I've really fucked shit up this time, haven't I?" I wasn't sure who I was talking to, maybe myself, maybe my alter ego. Who quite frankly thought i was acting like a big baby.

Who knows, maybe I was talking to God. Maybe I meant Bella was God. I'd always thought she was a Goddess. More like Artemis then anything, aside from the whole being sworn to virginity thing. Either way I thought of her a Goddess. Too bad she hated me. Artemis was crazy wrathful, and Bella was no different. I wonder what she's going to do when she sees me again.

I'd really crossed a line this time. I would never be able to come back from what I'd just done, and chances were it was going to happen more then once. Unless I did something about it. Marcus wanted me dark and strong. Fine. I would be the darkest person the world has seen. It wouldn't be hard. I was already damned to hell. _So what the hell_? Why not have a little fun? As long as it meant I didn't have a repeat of tonight. I would be good enough for Marcus to keep demon blood off the table. And dark enough that he stayed away from Bella. I wasn't concerned about the other kids, mostly Bella and my family. I could keep everything under my control until i had a good plan.

I could do this. I didn't have a choice. I needed to do this. I was going to do this properly, it would probably be the last thing i did. But either way, i was going to fix this. All of it. For Bella and for my brothers. I would go to hell and back for them. I was going to go through hell and back for them.

_I broke it all and I'm put to the test, put your hand to mine and feel this emptiness_

_There's no beat in my chest, 'cause there's nothing left_

_No it ain't goodbye, it's a last caress_

_What's another dream, you can hardly sleep, can you believe bad things only happen to me?_

_God knows one day you will finally see, that scars will heal but were meant to bleed_

_Do you realize I would lie for you?_

_Please have my last breath, I would die for you, i know I'm no good but my heart beats true_

_You know I'm gonna fight, though I might be scared to lose_

_You took me in and I fucked it up again, an empty promise, no I won't pretend_

_'Cause in the end we need someone to solve em_

_Nobody can fix me if I'm part of the problem_


	22. I'll Always Want You

_"What are you thinking about?" Mara asked, coming to sit next to me on he swinging bench. I'd ventured out into the garden to look for the constellations. I'd only been here a few days, and i found i loved the way they lived. _

_I shrugged, "my family i guess. Just wondering what they must be thinking?"_

_"You miss them?" she asked perplexed, "it didn't seem like it."_

_"No, i don't really care, just curious."_

_"Think you'll ever go back?" she asked, eyes a little worriedly. _

_"I don't think so, i haven't got a reason to," just my mom was back home. My home, my shallow friends and irritating boyfriend. Or rather ex-boyfriend now._

_We sat quietly for a moment and she looked at me, "you can stay here. With me, well us, if you want to. Our lives kind of get people hurt or dead a lot."_

_I broke into a smile, "you want me to stay?" butterflies in my stomach. _

_"Yes, we all want you to stay," she said honestly. "We all got the oddest feeling after i found you."_

_"Found me?' i repeated confused. Here's the big punch line, their stalkers. The Stalker Family. _

_"Yeah, or you found us, not too sure how that goes. Were all one in the same, at first we'd thought it was coincidence, but not so much anymore. I met Adam first and then Brandon, after that we knew we were somehow finding each other. There aren't many people like us in the world. You belong to us."_

_I smirked a little, "oh yeah? I belong to you guys now?"_

_"Yep, and guess what, once your ours you belong to us forever," she said grinning mischievously. "We instinctively search for each other."_

_"What happens when you get tired of my stubborn ass down the road, possibly even in the nearby future."_

_"I happen to think you have an excellent ass," she said teasingly. _

_"Why thank you," i said courteously._

_"So?" she asked expectantly. _

_"So what?"_

_"Will you stay?"_

_I smiled, "as long as you want me." _

_"I'll always want you."_

_I'd spent a few months with Mara, and it didn't take long to realize just how truly dangerous she was. She was kind of secretive too. She'd shown me the whole house after the first night I'd stayed there. Only because I'd woken up to her not in the room, when I went to look for her, I ended up in the garden, the library and a storage room. The house was confusing, crazy confusing. But I got the feeling it was what they'd been looking for when they bought the house. There were four rooms she wouldn't tell me about. She didn't lie, or tell me it was a closet or something. Just flat out told me it was best if I stayed out of them for now and that she'd see inside of them when she thought I was ready. They were locked anyways, so it dulled the curiosity slightly. _

_She also lived with only boys, none of them over the age of eighteen. They all seemed to look like her somehow. They weren't related, that much was obvious, but there were weird similarities they shared as a group. The eyes for one, kind of cold and ruthless. You could see the violence in their eyes, or the way they'd glow when a fight broke out. Outside of each other, they couldn't care less about the rest of the world around them. They had no regard for human life and even looked down on them sometimes, for being weak mostly. _

_At random times the boys would leave the house for a few hours, come back sore, bruised, often bleeding and a little tired, but overall triumphant. Each day I spent with them, the more I was sure I wanted to remain here permanently. I wasn't even totally sure what was going on, something illegal or a lot of illegal something's. Either way, the way they were excited me on a level I hadn't experienced before. _

_Slowly, Mara took me to places part of a community referred to as the Underworld, it was everywhere and nowhere. The first few places were rather tame, her way of gradually letting me get comfortable with my new playground. The Underground was made up of criminals and the most dangerous people you'd ever come across, some of them rich, some poor, proving how dark people were getting. It wasn't well known, I hadn't even heard of it and it's all over the globe. _

_No one talked about the darkness, at least not for a while. I mean, what more was there to tell? We all saw it in each other. Just knew we were all twisted in some sick way, more so then those around us. And they were all offering to show me what giving in feels like. _

_They were feared by everyone, every single one of us. Even myself now. It wasn't hard to see why. I overheard things here and there, it was obvious to the rest of the world that I was important to them, or at least Mara and that was enough to scare most people away. Or at least most people. Hurting me meant bringing down the entire groups wrath. _

_I was surprised she'd take me somewhere so risky. She cared about me, that much was obvious to everyone around us. You'd think she'd be against me strolling into a club and almost getting killed. Yeah, they pissed off a lot of people with their attitude, I saw it all the time. Even pissed off one another constantly, sometimes it was funny, or rather the things they fought over. _

_After we got into a bar brawl, and I'd ended up bruised all over the place, Mara started showing me how to use a gun and to fight. Twice now people had gone after me just for being with them. She was teaching me to street race, and a long list of other things. My favorite had to be the gravity thing. I didn't understand how it worked, it just did. _

_Everyone in the house could make themselves feather light, literally. I had seen Tyler scale a building. I watched Chris jump straight down a narrow, fifteen story staircase from the top floor. They done all kind of reckless wild things, and sadly, I wanted to do things like that. _

_They were amazing and talented at a lot, it almost seemed possible. Only people with a lifetime of practice and training can pull off what they do, so why can they? I wanted that. They were egotistical and rightfully so. The confidence and pride they had for one another, they never got jealous if someone could do something better. They were loyal to each other, and they never seemed to lie to one another either. They always left in pairs too, that was kind of weird._

_I'd also noticed the silence. They didn't talk a lot. If I hadn't known they were so unusual to begin with I would've thought they strangers renting a house together for school or something. But no, that was not the case. They were familiar, so familiar with one another they could have an entire conversation with nothing but their eyes. It was unnerving at first, the intimacy of it all. I got used to that pretty quickly. _

_Feeling that strong and powerful would give anyone an ego, and I wanted to feel what they felt. I wanted to feel strong, I wanted to feel powerful, and more dangerous then I kind of did already. But even then they didn't let their ego get the best of them when they weren't sure they couldn't pull something off. _

_The allure of being like them was a constant siren song, the powers too seductive to give up. It wasn't until we were attacked that I realized how in over my head I was. Or so I'd thought. It was two in the morning and we'd been fast asleep, tangled up in each other. _

_The door was practically kicked open. I startled awake, and by the time I'd sat up, Mara was already flying out of the bed. "Bella stay down!"_

_A bunch of masked men were coming through the bedroom door. I took me a moment to register the gun in her hand, where had she gotten that? _

_She shot at them, and they shot back. Someone took aim at me and I scrambled off the bed as bullets hit the head board behind me. She was still shooting, and she'd managed to take the first two down easily. Everything was so fast that I didn't hesitate to lift an empty beer bottle and whip at the intruder. _

_He flinched, and Mara took a head shot, sending him to the ground nothing but a body now. "Stay here," she instructed, and I just nodded, but she was already halfway out the door. I could hear shooting everywhere around me and her bedroom window shattered, yet another intruder coming through. _

_I lifted a fallen gun, shooting him before he was even halfway into the room. He hit the ground, unmoving. "Bell-," Mara voice cut off and I spun, to see someone else had somehow snuck past her and was now about to shoot at me. She killed him first. Staring at me from the doorway breathless, she looked from me to the dead guy, "you okay?"_

_"Yeah," I said, a weird sensation washing through me. Strength, maybe a bit of pride. I didn't scream or become frantic. I'd just acted and I got to live another day before of it. I had to admit I bore no guilt over killing the man. _

_"Come on, watch the glass," she said, holding out her hand for me to help her down when I crawled over the couch to get to her._

_The house was in ruins, and about a dozen more bodies were scattered across the house. Everyone had been sleeping, so chances were there more bodies in the bedrooms. It didn't look any of our friends had died, but Adam had been shot in the thigh and Kade had been grazed on the left shoulder. _

_We got to the top of the stairs and I weird feeling swept through me. Mara moved first in case we'd missed someone, an a red dot appeared over her back. What the fuck was that?_

_I felt my eyes widen with realization and I called our her name and threw my body into hers as he pulled the trigger. Something made a heavy pushing burst in my right side, like weight pressing down heavily on my side. I hadn't accounted for the stairs, and we went straight into the railing, breaking it and falling to the ground. _

_I laid there, holding back a cry of pain. I pressed my throbbing hand to my side. I lifted it a moment later, blood all over it._

_People came running and another shot was fired. outside. "Bella?" Mara breathed, sitting up, as soon as her eyes fell on me they went wide in horror._

_She scrambled over to me, lifting me up into her arms. I heard start shouting names, but this rushing water sound had risen and that was almost all I could hear. I could feel my heart pounding and I was getting dizzy. Then I realized black spots were covering my vision. She was looking at me and talking, looking scare and desperate, but I couldn't make out the words. My vision clouded over completely in blackness as it lulled me into a dark slumber._

_I woke up feeling weak and nauseous. I blinked, looking up confused. What happened? I looked around, searching out for Mara, always the first thing I do when I wake up. I frowned, wondering all the more what had happened. Then it clicked in. We'd been attacked. _

_"Mara," I breathed, as if on cue she strolled into the room, dark shadows under her eyes and looking troubled. _

_She came to a halt when our eyes met. She let out an almost shaky breath, and a second later she was around the bed and sitting next to me. "How you feeling?"_

_"Like I got shot," I said moaning a little. _

_"I can't imagine why," she said giving me a small sad smile. "Don't scare me like that Bella," she said swallowing thickly. I gave her a weird look, "you saved my life, thank you. But for Christ sakes don't ever do that again."_

_"What?" I urged, totally lost. _

_"You almost died Bella! You didn't seem to want to wake up either. You've been out for three days. I thought-," her voice cut off, "I thought I'd lost you." She raised her gaze to mine, a determined look in hers. "I never want to feel like that again. I'd tear this world apart, just to keep you at my side."_

_I stared at her, she was dead serious and my stomach did little flutters under her primal stare. She was entirely serious. "Did you find out who attacked us?" I asked, I wanted the pleasure of putting a bullet in someone who thought it would be okay to fuck me. _

_"Yeah, why?" she asked frowning, then smiled a little when she understood, "shower and get dressed. The guy were looking for ran when his little mission failed, think of it as hunting."_

_I knew without a doubt I was going to enjoy my new life._

**Bella POV**

We'd ended up at one of Adam's houses. If was one of the houses that had been passed down from his family. We didn't feel the need to educate anyone on who his biological family was. Too many questions and they could piece everything together once they saw the portraits and pictures around the house.

So far we'd been here for a week now. We'd spent the first few days getting back to normal, putting up all of warding to keep the angels and demons out. Sam and Dean said they may be able to put up a spell that would kind of sound an alarm if someone came onto the property. I thought it would be useful, but with Mara I couldn't help but feel like we were screwed. Mara's was the one in charge, she was our leader. She was always the one with a plan, and even at the circumstances we were all grasping at straws. We didn't really know how the supernatural world worked and quite frankly, I would just love to sleep for a few months.

"Mara's on the news!" Brandon shouted, though it only made it to about a quarter of the property. The house was nearly as high tec as Mara's was, but it was big enough to house us, so I wasn't complaining, yet anyways.

I moved down the stairs, Michelle and Patrick, along with Dean and Chris were in the living room. Brandon came in through the other door and I sat down.

_"Several days ago an accident on the interstate halted oncoming traffic. Mara Petrelli, as well as Danielle Addison were seen jumping out of the car before it flipped several times. The two teenagers, Lori Williams and Jonathon Campbell were rushed to St. Peters Hospital in Olympia for minor injuries. Mara and Danielle assaulted a man, forcing his wife out of their vehicle and left down the highway. It was reported to authorities and when the vehicle was later pulled over, the arresting officer was discovered dead a short distance from the stolen vehicle. Authorities haven't been able to locate the stolen police car and are withholding the details of the officer's name and the circumstances of his death. If you have any information, please contact local authorities."_

"Is that normal?" Michelle asked Chris, Brandon and I, frowning.

"Yeah, I can see her totaling the car with them in it. They killed after all, that's bound to piss anyone off," I said shrugging.

"Where do you think they were headed?"

"They must've gone through Salem, no telling where they are now. Probably with the other dead kids," Chris said thoughtfully.

"Why Salem?"

"Witches?" Hunter asked unimpressed.

"There are quite a few actual witches in Salem," Dean interjected, "if they thought they could control the population of witches and demons out there, it would keep them secure and well hidden."

But my mind was elsewhere. Mara had storage lockers in Ashland. By the looks of it, the others had forgotten about them. There weren't a lot of weapons, so much as other things she'd collected over the years, supplies. Things she would need or want. I wasn't a hundred percent sure what was in that particular storage unit, but it didn't have locks, put passwords. I could get in there. See if she had been through there and when. They had plenty cameras. And if not, I could always send the feed back here and keep an eye on whether or not she'd go through there. Or if she went in more then once. That would confirm that she was still in Oregon.

But then what? God knows what's going through her mind right now. But I just needed to see her. To talk to her. I needed to know if Mara was gone, or if she was doing this against her will. Even if I just had a moment with her, just a second, I would know if she was still Mara.

Then I realized everyone was staring at me. "What?"

"I asked you what you thought about working on your shield for a while. Maybe shoot arrows at your or something," Brandon said frowning at me.

"You know something just occurred to me, Bella might not really be a shield," Chris said frowning. "I mean, that's how it seems, but it could just be like throwing something backwards rather then this shielding thing."

"Good point, Max was telekinetic, maybe she just can't hold things so much as push or pull them," Brandon said, remembering the few time I'd used my power.

"It all goes back to the base of the power. Like Mara, she burnt a bunch of people from the inside out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the extent of it," Adam said catching on.

"What, like she can control fire or something?" I asked frowning. "That makes more sense then our original assumption." Too be fair, we hadn't had a lot of discussions on the whole psychic power thing, because weren't sure how to trigger everything without having to terrify all of the psychic kids. That pissed them off the last time, and they'd see it coming, so that idea was out.

"Great, the psychopath can control fire, as if she needed another way to kill us all," Hunter said leaning back, more talking without thinking. I was getting really tired of everyone making comments about her just because she was gone.

"Hey Hunter," I said, and as soon as he lifted his head to look at me, I had lifted up a glass cup and whipped it at his head. The blow sent him off the couch and onto the ground, clutching his bleeding forehead and moaning. I looked at Michelle and she just held up her hands in defense.

"Jesus Bella, would you relax," Dean said glaring at me as he went to help Hunter back up. There was a long cut across his forehead.

"Who said I wasn't relaxed," was all I said, before strolling out of the room and back up to mine.

Later on, everyone was fast asleep when I woke up. I'd set the alarm on my phone, and at three in the morning I showered and got dressed. I had gotten to the car, when I realized someone was following me.

I spun and then lunged for my follower, hitting them hard. The hit had knocked them too the side and I grabbed their arm, twisting it and shoving them against the wall. "Dean?" I asked in disbelief.

I heard soft foot steps and then Sam came around the corner worriedly. I narrowed my eyes at them, "What are you two doing awake?"

"What are you doing sneaking out of the house?" Dean retorted, eyebrows raised.

"I wasn't aware that I was grounded," I said in slight disdain.

"I saw the look on your face when they were talking about Mara being in Salem. You know where she is," Sam said in an all knowing voice.

"If I knew where Mara was. You'd be discussing my whereabouts with the others, and not me. I'm not allowed to go for a cigarette anymore?" I asked unimpressed.

Dean just grinned, "I didn't know you smoked, and I don't see any smokes."

"I have to go buy some, it's been stressful lately," was all I said shrugging.

"We lie professionally Bella, wherever your going. Were coming with you," was all Dean said. Then disappeared into the garage.

Sam gave me an apologetic smile, "you didn't really think we were going to let you take off by yourself did you?"

"Can't blame me for hoping," I grumbled, brushing past him and into the garage.

The car ride was quiet, aside from the classic rock station Dean insisted we listen to. I had refused to get into his car at all. When we finally pulled into Ashland, I went straight for the storage lockers. Well maybe not straight for them. We had to park down the street, and I wasn't sure if I would have to break into it later on. The three of us stuck to the back alleyways, I didn't want anyone to recognize any of us. All three of us had been splashed across the news at least half a dozen times over the last couple years. I'd given them the basic rundown on why we'd traveled to Ashland, and for the most part they'd stayed quiet.

I tied up my hair, pulling on some sunglasses and walked into the storage unit office. "Bella this plan seems to have a lot of holes. What do you plan to do if one of them shows up?" Sam asked frowning at me.

"I'm a psychic kid too Sam, or have you forgotten? You guys aren't completely incompetent either. Besides if it comes to a fight, I can kick ass just as much as Mara can. I do have the same training as her. We'll be fine," they looked doubtful.

We walked down the corridor and when we stopped at the storage unit, I put into the four digit code. It wasn't anything special, 0989, I wasn't why she chose the codes she did, but she managed to remember every single one of them, so it never really mattered. I flipped on the light and frowned. Almost everything was gone. All of the supplies, the weapons, her books and clothes. Even the bike was gone. There were random things left on the shelves, things that were useless right now, old cell phones, that kind of thing.

There was a piece of paper taped to the wall, directly ahead of me. I moved towards it, suddenly feeling sick. In Mara's hand writing was a simple sentence, 'I knew you'd show up here. Go home Bella.'

I tore it into pieces, glaring at the wall it had been taped to. "Fucking Mara, let's go, she emptied everything. She's long gone."

"Are you okay?" Sam asked quietly, as we went into the office.

I just glared at the ground. I wanted to see Mara. I needed something. I was too pissed to care about what I was about to do. I turned to the clerk, and had him on the ground flat on his stomach in less then two seconds. I stepped on his back, using the heel of my boot to let it dig in a little. "Bella, stop!" Dean said.

"Don't start Dean, you wanted to come along, so keep your mouth shut and enjoy the ride," I turned back to the clerk, who was struggling to push off of the ground. I shoved with my mind, using my little ability to push down on him entirely. "Storage unit 56, when was it emptied?"

"I can't tell you that," I put more pressure on his back and then edged my foot to his neck and he coughed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked, easing up just barely.

"A few hours ago, a man and a woman came in," he groaned loudly and I stepped off of him and then kicked him hard in the face, leaving him unconscious on the floor.

"Bella, you can't just attack civilians," Dean said glaring at me.

"Really? That's so weird seeing as I just did," I said dismissively. He grabbed my wrist, and turned me to him, eyes burning angrily.

"Look, I know your hurting over Mara. If she wants help, she'll ask for it somehow. You know that. She wants you to stay away Bella, and if you can't think clearly, your only going to get hurt, she wouldn't want that."

"You don't know anything about Mara, don't assume to know what she does and doesn't want," I said glaring and then moved towards the security cameras. I took the DVD out and handed it to Sam. He frowned at me, but slid it in his pocket.

As soon as we got out the front door we were surrounded by about four police cruisers. "Oh perfect," I said glaring. I hadn't even thought to check if there was some kind of panic button in that office.

"Put your hands in the air," two officers shouted, all of them aiming guns at us. We put our hands up.

"Any ideas?" Sam asked nervously.

"Lay down on the ground with your arms extended," was our next order. Oh yeah, i had an idea. One they weren't going to like, but since when did that matter?

I let out a long sigh and then pushed with my mind. I felt something warm slide down my lips and ignored it. Then with another mental shove, I'd sent everything in front of us flying backwards and into the street. "I didn't mean that!" Sam shouted as we started running towards the car. I heard more sirens.

"Well it happened, we need to split up," I said and began climbing a fire escape. I glanced back down and they were both dropping down into the sewers. God I hated using the sewers.

I got to the roof and paused, debating what direction to go in. Then I heard gunshots, I glanced downwards, dropping to the ground. A police officer had followed us down the alley. Here I was keeping track of the squad cars rather then single officers. Damn did I ever hate law enforcement. Who knows what Charlie and Renee must be thinking. I felt a strange pressure in my side and glanced down. Red was staining my shirt in a horrible way. Something warm slid down my stomach and then I hit the ground unconscious.


	23. The Birth of Darkness

**Mara POV**

**Five Years Ago**

_The hit threw me to the ground, and my jaw ached painfully. I held the right side of my face, eyes watering as I struggled to control my breathing. My mother stood over me, looking both furious and disgusted all at once. She was drunk. "Don't look at me like that," I let my eyes fall to the ground, "I told you to have the house clean by the time we got home. You can't do anything can you? Get up and go do your homework, when your done, finish your chores and go to bed."_

_I scrambled up, running for my room. Before I could get the door closer I heard a cry from out in the garage and my gut churned, it was my brother. He was out there with my uncle and my father and I heard some muttering in what sounded like Russian. Probably my uncle. The words were distorted but I heard my name and something about being thirteen soon, and I could've sworn I heard the words 'special present'. Now, if I had been part of a normal family, that would've sounded great, but I was not. I ignored the conversation, I wasn't sure if I was hearing correctly and I knew my brother would tell me about it later. _

_I had already done my homework, so I crossed the room to my book shelf and grabbed one of my Greek mythology books. I'd finished reading up on Egyptian history a while ago. I found the legends and stories almost as fascinating as the people. I'd gotten my first taste of it when I was about ten years old and my parents had dropped off my brother and I at the library. Mostly to get rid of us for a few hours. Though they were gone for far longer then they'd said they would be. By the time they had finally returned the library had long since closed and we were freezing. But I'd remembered the day well, the library had a display for Chinese mythology and I'd fallen in love with the stories and histories. Ever since then, I'd dedicated a month or so to different cultures. _

_I was a fast reader. I wasn't sure what it was exactly, it took me about an hour to finish a three hundred page book. Both Marcus and I were fast readers, and we could remember everything we'd ever read. It was handy, Marcus tended to read more hands on things. He had since our father had told him to fix some sort of tool for him. Marcus had been nine and when he messed up the tool even further, he got the beating of a lifetime. He could fix just about anything in the house now. _

_When I spent the necessary amount of time doing 'homework' I went downstairs to clean up the kitchen. Which was now a mess, unsurprisingly. They were pigs when they drank. Which was generally every day and who was left to clean up after them like a maid? You guessed it. Me. _

_I was drying the dishes when I heard another shout from outside. Everything was always worse when our aunt and uncle visited. It was generally once a week that they'd come by. But it's not like they had to worry about being too rough with us, we didn't have neighbors. Some kind of settlement from my father's previous place of work. _

_I eyed the knife in my hands, a sudden urge to shove it into something. I felt my heart trip a little when I figured out where my thoughts were going. I wanted to hurt something. I'd never felt this way before. I'd never wanted to hurt anything before. I was a good girl, because if I wasn't then I'd make sure to 'learn my lesson'. _

_The door opened and my brother came into the kitchen, head down in shame. I dropped the knife, and moved towards him. I lifted his chin to face me a little better and my chest ached. He had a bloody nose and a bruise was forming over his left eye. You'd think I'd be used to seeing him in such a bad condition. But I never would be. Marcus meant everything to me. He was all I had. He was the one that held me in his arms when I couldn't stop crying, the only one who said what I needed to hear and the only one who'd ever shown me any kindness. Marcus was my world and I couldn't stand seeing him hurt. It went both ways._

_"Mom hit you?" it was more of a statement, and I just nodded and moved across the kitchen to wet a clean rag. I nodded for him to come towards me and he hesitated. _

_"Darrell and Tyson want another beer," he said opening the fridge, I took the beers from his hand. _

_"I'll take them outside, go get cleaned up," I said, passing him the rag. _

_"Thanks," he said, giving me a fleeting worried smile, then added, "don't stay out there long, okay?" I frowned, but took his word for it and nodded._

_I pushed open the screen door, and then moved towards my uncle and father, they were talking in Russian still, but I couldn't hear well over the music. "There she is," my father said smiling at me widely. _

_I handed them the bottles wordlessly and then turned to leave. Someone grabbed my hand and then I was sitting in my uncles lap. He was giving me a glazed over smile, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Going to be thirteen in a few days! Aren't you excited?"_

_I shrugged, and then squirmed a little. I was uncomfortable like this, but his grasp on me only tightened. "A little," I finally said. _

_Get a big fat nothing for my birthday was something every kid looked forward to. Though Marcus and I always got one another gifts. It was something we'd do at midnight and we'd share some kind of desert together. This year I'd gotten us red velvet cupcakes from the bakery. They had the oddest dark purple fluff on top and a little dog face and a cat face on each of them in different kinds of candy. They had cost me five dollars for each of them. But I looked forward to showing my brother later. _

_And the silver chain I'd gotten him. He'd said he wanted one for Christmas and not so shockingly, he never got it. But I'd seen him eyeing one a few weeks ago in a local store, but it was more then either of us had to spent. So I'd dipped into the small amount of money I had hidden in my room and bought it. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the disappointed look on his face the next time we'd walked by the store. He'd be thrilled when he opened the box. _

_"Finally going to be a lady, your already so pretty," my uncle said, giving me a slight squeeze and I felt my gut twist when I realized what was going on. I pulled out of his grasp, more then a little scared. _

_"I have to finish the dishes," was all I said, practically running for the house. Now I know what that 'special present' thing meant. I was scared. Really scared. I quickly put away the remaining dishes and ran for my brothers room. He had been reading a book on poisonous plants. _

_"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up as soon as he saw my expression. _

_"I'm scared," I said swallowing thickly. _

_"Why?"_

_"Did dad or Tyson say anything about the 'special present' in front of you?" I asked, shifting from foot to foot. Marcus wasn't the greatest when it came to speaking Russian. But I'd picked up on most of it. Russian and German is what my parents spoke. I think my mothers parents were Russian and my fathers parents were German. Or something like that. Either way they were both fluent. _

_"No, why? What does that even mean?" I cringed in disgust, and he clued instantly. His face dropped and he stared at me. _

_"Your not serious, they wouldn't-," I just shrugged helplessly. People were capable of horrible things. _

_"Mom wouldn't let them hurt you, I mean, that's insane," he said in disbelief, looking paler then usual. He got a strange protective look in his eyes now and if that wasn't a surprise, his next words were. "If anyone ever touches you, I don't care who they are, they're fucking dead."_

_It was weird to hear my brother swear. He never had before. The look on his face was more then a little strange, as I'd never seen it there before either. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice made him sound years older too. Was that even possible for a twelve year old?_

_"Do you really mean that?" I knew it was silly to ask, Marcus loved me. But my life was proof that the extent of familial love only went as far as a person chose. Which made me wonder, did I love my parents? I mean, I loved Marcus, more then anything in the world. But I couldn't be sure how I felt for my parents. It was all so mixed up and I'd never contemplated it before._

_"Of course, I've been thinking, how would you feel about," he hesitated, looking unsure now. "Leaving? With me?"_

_"Leaving?" I repeated, confused. "What do you mean?"_

_"Leaving here, forever," he said, seriously, looking very much unsure of himself. _

_"Where would we go?" I asked, the idea frightening me. I'd never thought of leaving. This was home. As awful as it was. It was home. But then I paused, this was only home because Marcus was here. Marcus was home for me. Wherever he was, was where I belonged. So what did it matter if we left? _

_"Wherever we want. The world is ours for the taking, you just have to say yes," he said, giving me a wide smile, as if he'd read my mind. _

_"We don't have any money, we can't drive, we can't-," he cut me off. _

_"I can get us money, you can too. Were crazy smart Mara. Smarter then anyone else we know. I've seen you do impossible things. Remember when you and mom were in that car accident last winter and the car caught fire? You saved mom's life! If you hadn't pulled her from the car, or did the CPR she wouldn't be here right now. What about when you and your class got trapped in the school when it burnt down? None of the teachers could get to you and you got everyone out before the whole school caved in! We can do anything if we set our minds to it."_

_I just stared at him a little unsure. "What if we get picked up by child protective services or whatever?"_

_He grinned at me, "we can pick locks, I bet you we'd be good liars too if we needed to be! Come on, we can do this."_

_"Alright, Marcus, I'll go with you."_

_We'd planned to leave in two days, the night before our birthday. We'd piled together all the money we had, and surprisingly enough, we had a little over five hundreds dollars. Quite a bit of it was in change, so Marcus went in to exchange it for cash. I was in the living room sweeping when my uncle and father came in. "Your mother and Francis went to girl's night," my father informed me. _

_I just nodded and continued sweeping. I got that weird feeling like I should run or something. But I only continued my duties more quickly. "Why don't you take a break?" Tyson asked, giving me that smile._

_"Um, it's fine. I've got a lot to do," I said awkwardly. _

_"It's your birthday tomorrow, it's okay to slack off a bit, come sit," my father said, patting the couch next to him. _

_I swallowed thickly, and debated what to do. What I wanted was to run from the house. But I just nodded once and went for my room. My uncle grabbed my wrist, a little more roughly then I'd expected and pulled hard. I hit the ground, a little surprised and then scrambled back into a stand and pulled on my wrist. They were speaking again, but I couldn't understand anything in my growing fear. "Let go," I shouted, when my uncle had grasped both of my arms in a hard grip. _

_"Just relax," he cooed and I felt bile rise in my throat. _

_"I want to go to my room," I said pleadingly. _

_"No, no, just stay and spend some time with us," he said, leaning forward slightly. I could smell whisky or something on his breath. _

_I cringed away from him, "let go, your hurting me," I said, when his grip tightened enough to make my legs give out. _

_"Just relax, this all be over soon if you be a good girl," okay now I was freaking out. I instinctively lashed out, and scratched him down the side of the face. _

_He shouted, and then hit hand collided with my face and sent me sprawling into the ground. My head bounced off of the hard cold floor and I felt my vision blur painfully. I moaned, tasting blood in my mouth and then my father appeared in my vision. Again, instinct took over and I kicked out, managing to kick him in the crotch. I stumbled up and ran for the door, as it was thrown open. For a moment I thought it was Marcus and relief flooded me, until I saw my mom and aunt. _

_Someone grabbed the back of my neck and I let out a surprised sound. "What's going on?" my mom asked, closing the door behind her. _

_"She's mouthing off, she kicked me," my father said angrily. _

_"Then discipline her, it's the only way these brats will learn," my aunt said, as if it were obvious. My father grabbed my wrist tightly and wrenched me backwards and I struggled in his grip. _

_Then someone else appeared behind me and I knew instantly it was my uncle. He grabbed my other arm and then I was flying down the stairs. It felt like I had hit ever step on the way down. I laid there breathing heavily as pain raked my body and I heard a door slam and lock, it was the basement door._

_"Stop, please," I whispered, when my uncle appeared, or more like two of him appeared. I must've hit my head harder then I thought, considering everything kept blurring and doubling. _

_"You heard your mother, you need to be disciplined," my father said, somewhere in the back ground. My arms felt numb when I tried to push the weight off of me, but all that it did was piss him off. I felt my head slam hard into the concrete and my eyes teared up and then I was flipped onto my stomach. My body felt heavy and so wrong right now that it almost felt like a dream. But you can't dream stuff like this. _

_I tried to find some place far away from here, but I couldn't. My mind refused to let myself disappear from this moment. Like it wanted me to remember. I heard the worst sounds and felt so disgusted and violated I wanted to last out and scream. And I did. But no amount of struggling seemed to help, in fact it only made the grip and pain around me worse._

_I heard a crash at the top of the stairs and the door came off its hinges and down the stairs. I took the chance to scramble away from the monster holding me and across the ground. My brother came rushing down the stairs, and much to my surprise, he had a knife in his hand. The very knife I'd been gripping with the urge to hurt just the other day. _

_He took stalk of the situation and that second of pause gave both of the other men the opportunity to rush him. My father hit him first, and the knife went flying from his hand. I didn't see most of it, but I could hear the sounds of fists meeting flesh and something in me just snapped. _

_It was like this odd calm washed over me. A voice in my head whispering it would all be okay. I didn't think about it as I walked across the basement and picked up the titanium baseball bat. It felt different then it had any other time I'd held it in my small arms. It felt strong. No, it wasn't the bat that felt strong. I felt strong. Feeling weak made me feel strong somehow. As if I know felt like I'd never feel that way again. I wouldn't. I would never let anyone touch me without feeling pain. Never again._

_I moved towards them, and then smiled when I saw my brother. But not for the reason you might think. I smiled, because I was angry. I smiled because I was about to make them feel pain. I tapped my uncles shoulder and as he turned to me, I swung the bat as hard and as fast as I could. It slammed into his face, throwing him backwards. I didn't say a thing, as I lifted the bat a second time and brought it down over his face, leaving a disgusting dent in it and blood pooling around his head. _

_Then something collided with me, or someone was more accurate term. I slammed into the wall and the baseball disappeared from my hands. My father was screaming in my face now, but I heard nothing. It was like rushing water or something. My father shook and then hit the ground and I looked over to see Marcus beaten and bloody holding the bat in his hands. He brought the bat down over his face, and there was a resounding crunch sound, but neither of us had looked away from one another. _

_Then I had launched myself at him and into his arms. "Come on, we need to get out of here," he whispered in my ear, and I nodded as he guided us up the steps. But not before I'd leaned down and grasped the handle of the blade. I felt weird somehow. Different. _

_"Where's-," my question was answered as soon as I'd gotten up the stairs. Our aunt and our mother were laying unconscious on the ground. _

_He just pulled me up the steps, giving me an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone especially after what you said. They weren't supposed to be home for hours," he said shaking his head as he led us into my room. _

_"I'm fine," was all I said. And I felt fine. Kind of sore, well, actually really sore. But I was otherwise okay. _

_He began pulling clothes from drawers. "We'll take moms car." I suppose anyone else would've pointed out that twelve year olds can't drive. But that wasn't true. We'd both driven on multiple occasions. Mostly when our parents were too drunk to go somewhere. But either way, we were pretty good at driving. _

_"You should change, we'll stop and you can shower and stuff," he said, a guilty look on his face. _

_"Marcus," he finally looked at me now, and his eyes held pain. I stood, crossing the room, "I'm okay."_

_He shook his head now, "No, your not." He lifted the bag over his shoulder, and then disappeared out the door and into his room. _

_I sighed heavily, and then began stripping off the ripped and bloody clothes. I felt fine. Didn't that mean I was okay? Why did Marcus not think so? What made him the expert? I sighed heavily and then he passed my door and went downstairs. I moved into the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. _

_"Okay," was all I said, maybe Marcus was right. I did not look okay. Or it wasn't that, so much as I looked different. I washed my face thoroughly and then tried to see if wiping down the blood helped. It didn't. I looked different somehow, yet I was the same girl. Wasn't I?_

_I leaned forward slightly. The same long dark red slightly curled hair and dark blue eyes. But no. Maybe I wasn't the same girl I was this morning. I did look different somehow. I just couldn't quite put my finger on what. Shaking my head I moved to dry off my hands and then heard gun shots. I grabbed the knife and went running out of the room and down the stairs. _

_I stared at my mom, who was now fully awake and pointing a gun at the garage. Marcus was in there. I didn't hesitate and as she turned I sunk the knife into her stomach. We stood like that for a moment, and I took the gun from her arm, and then pulled the knife from her stomach. We held each others gaze and as she collapsed, I felt nothing. No grief or regret. Just nothing. I had been right. Marcus was my family. Not them. _

_"Mara," someone breathed painfully. I turned, and then my eyes landed on Marcus. He was on the ground now, and his shirt was stained with blood. He looked sick. _

_"Marcus," I whispered, rushing towards him and dropping down next to him. He was bleeding, I realized. She'd shot him. "Oh god, tell me what to do, Marcus?"_

_He looked at me with glassy eyes and I felt my heart squeeze painfully. "It's okay Mara. You can do anything, and never let anyone touch you. Don't let them stop you from getting what you want. Right now I need you to run far away from here, go and never look back," he breathed, and I clung to him desperately, as if that would somehow keep him here. _

_I held onto him for what felt like ages, but could've only been seconds. His arms slacked around me and I felt my eyes water a little. I didn't understand. He'd just been in front of me, not five minutes ago. He'd been here, we were almost free. He had set us free. Now he was gone. _

_"Marcus," I whispered, setting him down as my jaw shook with the need to sob. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. I couldn't even hear him breathing. I looked for a pulse and got nothing. My brother was dead. _

_I stood, swallowing thickly. I looked back at the house, rage suddenly filling me. I would leave, but not without first making one last act of revenge. I would burn this mother fucker to the ground. I took the gasoline from the garage, intended for the lawn mower but we had plenty to go around. I poured it over the bedrooms and bathrooms, the living room and dining room. I smiled when I got to the basement and kitchen. I grabbed the matches from the shelf in the garage and then pulled out the car a little just in case._

_I licked my lips, lighting the match and felt my stomach churn excitedly when it flared to life. I tossed the match through the open door and onto the line of gas and it lit, and began sliding backwards. I was burning away my old life, everything that I was had been this nightmare of a home. _

_I would become a new person, a stronger person because Marcus was right, I could do anything. If I wanted to be, I could be untouchable. I would become untouchable. I would take what I wanted and when I wanted. And if people weren't strong enough to stop me, then they could kiss there ass goodbye. Because when it finally came down to it. If you couldn't outwit a thirteen year old girl, then in my opinion, you didn't deserve life. Tonight was clear proof that I didn't have an issue with taking life. Oh yes, I was a brand new Mara. Darker, stronger, ready to take on the world and nobody could stop me. _


	24. Whole New Set Of Rules

_Quite a bit of coarse language..maybe I should change my rating?_

**Mara POV**

I was laying up on the roof when my brother started calling my name. Verbally calling my name and I was still angry with him, so I'd resigned myself to being a pain in the ass. "Don't be a bitch Mara, just come here," I couldn't help but smirk into the sea of darkness surrounding me. "It's about the Winchesters."

I frowned, but pulled myself up into a stand. I strolled the edge of the roof, and glowered down at my twin brother. "Christian and Denise want a new play toy and seem to be fascinated with the Winchesters. Go with them."

"Are you asking or telling?" I asked coldly. He gave me a dark look. He really wasn't glad I was being a pain in the ass after what happened with the demon blood. I'd even tried to kill him. Sadly he ordered me away from that almost as soon as I came downstairs. Luckily for him he saw that coming.

I stepped off the roof, dropping the three stories to stand in front of him and he didn't look bothered with that. Everyone in the house didn't feel pain the way normal people did, though I could manipulate my body in ways the others didn't even before they'd killed me, which Marcus thought was impressive. I'm not sure why he found that so amazing, but figured it would have to do with whatever project he gave us next.

We felt pain, sure, but it was like a jolt, a shock even. I'd watched Christian, the 'electrician' as everyone in the house called him for his uncanny ability to channel electricity, stab Lori this morning because she'd drank the rest of the pop. She'd turned around and hit him over the head with the coffee pot. As far as I could tell, it would take a lot to actually kill one of us. Which wasn't helpful in my opinion.

"Asking, they tend to screw things up whenever they go anywhere together. The Winchesters have been arrested in Ashland and are being transferred to Oregon State Penitentiary."

"In Ashland?" I asked skeptically. Then it clicked in. They must've either gone with Bella, or followed her there. She knew where most of my storage units were and Adrian and I had cleaned them out and moved everything back here. Mostly the clothes and books, the weapons I had moved. I didn't think anyone in this house would even be interested in using weapons, they were human weapons already, kind of seemed pointless.

"Yeah, I don't care what you do with them, I don't want them so close to Salem without having control of them," I quirked an eyebrow.

"Why are you sending Denise and Christian then? Those two are about two seconds away from cannibalism."

"Denise seems to want a new play toy and the last hunter they caught in Salem died this morning," shocking, I thought rolling my eyes a little. Denise was vicious, and got a kick out of torturing hunters, though I wasn't sure. Based on what Marcus told me her grandparents had been hunters and when she'd started attracting ghosts they thought she was possessed. It wasn't hard to piece together that they'd tried to kill her. By the looks of it, Denise won.

"How'd they get picked up in the first place? They are the Winchesters," I said still a little disbelieving. And where the fuck was Bella if they were in jail? Though I kept the sudden worry and panic out of my eyes, my mind stuck to that one track.

"I don't know. But Denise and Christian want to kill some hunters. Make sure they don't do anything stupid."

"What am I there, fucking babysitter now? What next, you gonna tell me to pick up your drying cleaning too?" he gave me another dark look and I returned it. He could scare the crap out of everyone else with that look. But I practically invented it.

"Take Adrian with you, just in case you need the extra push, those hunters are tricky," he said it so simply as if we were talking about what to have for dinner. It made me nauseous. He glanced over at my repulsed expression and just smirked. "You know, if you get over the fact that it's demon blood that makes you feel so powerful, you would stop resisting me."

"Oh yes, ordering me to drink demon blood is the only reason I hate you on every level possible. My hate has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that your alive, you let me lose my sanity one day at a time, and then you came crashing into my life, shoved a pipe through my chest and threw me off a ten story building and killed me."

"Don't be ridiculous, the last five years wasn't my fault Mara. It was yours. Your choices, your rage that put you in this situation. Don't blame me for your actions. Everything that has happened is your fault. It's your fault you lost your mind just months after you burnt down our home. It's your fault you became a sociopath, your fault that you and your friends had to go underground after the six of you fell into some wild group insanity. Your fault that Isabella fell in love with someone else. Your fault you died. Your choices did this. Not mine. Want to know what happened after you left Canada? I played the cards life handed me, the cards you dealt me. Just because you didn't like the hand you were dealt means it was my fault!" he had gotten up into my face and now I was just staring at him in disbelief.

The weirdest thing, my instant response was, "i am far smarter then a sociopath!" I cringed and then changed my course of response when he gave me a weird look. Yeah, as if that was what i would object about.

"What I did five years ago? Oh you mean you had nothing to do with it? You hated our life as much as I did. Don't blame me because you completely screwed me over. You know what sure, maybe a lot of this shit is my fault. But I spent months blaming myself for your death, you could've put me out of my misery that entire time. You were my brother Marcus, you meant everything to me. You chose a fucking demon over me! Your own goddamn sister! Your twin sister at that! Now your the one twisting my arm and forcing me into some weird hellish nightmare just like dad! Sure, maybe spending so much time hurting people and going nuts with power wasn't the best option after you died. But, it sure as hell beat what you spent the last five years doing. Sucking down the blood from some demon whore and god knows what else."

"Oh like your one to talk about a shady past. Tell me does Bella even know who you really are? What you've really done, just how far you'll really go to get what you want? Or have you forgotten it over the last few years pretending to be someone your not? Maybe your just ashamed of where you come from. Does anyone even know who you are Mara? Cause right now, it looks to me like I'm the one with the upper hand here. If you don't want me to blow the whistle on who we are, then I suggest you drop the attitude. Your going to give in eventually. I've seen it," I just glared furiously.

Like I was hiding who I was, if people asked, I'd tell the truth. A version of it anyways. Sure i wasn't the proudest of where i came from, but i wasn't the only one. I had a right to be! Who wanted a past like mine?

"Marcus, I was free of people called _family_ having control over me. The crap dad and the rest of our entirely fucked family put us through. Your turning out to be no better then he is, in fact your worse. To throw on top of your shitty brotherly ways and puppet show you got going on here, your adding blackmail to the table? Thanks Marcus, fucking brother of the year. You wonder why I'm so loyal to pack and yet not you, maybe if you acted like a brother it might make me hate you a little less," I said coldly, and then turned to leave. I really didn't want to have this conversation now.

He grabbed my wrist, surprising me, and reflexes took over. Not that I resisted the urge when I spun, pulled my hand back and snapped it the short distance between us. He took the hit, barely managing to pull back some. He hadn't let go of my arm and then had my arm twisted behind my back and shoved me into the wall of the house. I threw my head back, turning and spinning hard enough to get him across the face. I lifted my leg up and he blocked the kick I threw at him and before either of us could make a move a window shattered over us and a boy came flying out the window.

He grasped my hand and pulled me into him hard, surprising the hell out of him and we tumbled to the ground. The body landed hard, making a horrible crunching sound and I stared at the terrible position Camilla now laid in. "Holy shit," I said in disbelief, and then rolled Camilla onto her back. Her face was practically melted off, and there was a sort of triangle like thing on the right side of her face.

"That's not an iron imprint is it?" I asked, and then cringed at the smell. It wasn't as bad as it had smelt when I'd killed people, but burning skin didn't look or smell the greatest.

"I don't know, I didn't even think we had an iron," he said, both of us looked up to see Denise and Danielle hanging out the window looking down at us through the window they'd tossed her out of.

"What the hell," I shouted, irritably at Danielle. Mostly because she was my charge. "Why did you kill her?"

"Cause she's a bitch, why else," Denise said, throwing herself out of the window and landing flat on her ass in front of us. Either Marcus had summoned her or she knew she had to answer to him. I was a little relieved when Danielle didn't decide to toss herself out the window. Danielle wasn't nearly as bad as the others, but I could tell she found them much more entertaining then the living psychic kids, the pack and Winchesters. God, how I wished I could go home sometimes.

"She was the only one that was telekinetic!" Marcus said, grabbing Denise by the throat and shoving her against the wall. I noticed the slight way he lifted her and frowned when she started struggling to breathe. I wasn't getting in the middle of that. Danielle came outside and I grabbed her wrist.

"What happened?" I asked angrily. How was she so obviously dead? Here I thought there was something to it. I'd seen them take worse hits and be completely fine.

"She kept trying to pick a fight with Denise and Christian over who gets to go with you to pick up the hunters. So Christian killed her."

"By shoving an iron over her face?" I asked skeptically. That seemed highly unlikely. I glanced back up, noticing a few people look out the windows curiously.

"No that happened after, he touched her with his microwave fingers and she just fried. Then Christian and Denise started arguing over who should get rid of the body, Christian left so Denise just tossed her out the window," I stared at her for a moment.

"What were you doing during all this?"

"Laughing mostly."

"Jesus, alright, try not to get killed here, of everyone at this nightmare house, you happen to be the only one I like," I said gesturing for her to leave. She left.

I turned back to Marcus who was glaring heavily at Denise, who was now unconscious on the ground. "See what you get for letting them run wild?" I said amused. "There dogs, I think it's time to train them."

"Your right. And your the one that's going to get me another telekinetic kid," he said, brushing past me and going back into the house.

"Why me?" I asked in disbelief, as I followed him into the house.

"Because of all the rabid animals living in the house, your the only one with a brain," he said as if it were obvious and then disappeared into the parlor.

"I don't even know who has telekinesis," I shouted after him angrily. God, it was like I'd become his bitch or something. Maybe I was. Fuck. Oh this just sucked on so many levels.

"Actually, what you idiots confused for shields was actually telekinesis," Adrian's all knowing voice said to my right.

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "seriously?"

"Of course, you are far more powerful then you seem to think. Now, let's go get us some hunters and a psychic kid," I tried to suppress my somewhat territorial look. If anyone so much as touched Bella I would rip their head off. Right? A small voice asked, and again I got that urge to not care. Where was that coming from? I was resisting this somewhat, sure I'd do whatever Marcus asked, as long as Bella and my brothers were left unharmed. They were all I had cared about in the last few years. I wouldn't let anything happen to them. Right?

"Great," I said sighing, and running a hand through my hair.

"Let's get the Winchesters, we'll bring them here," I said rolling my eyes a little. "This is going to get complicated."

"You think we should take more then two of them with us?"

"Yeah, Danielle needs to come," I said thoughtfully. "Alright, we'll pick up the Winchesters. Get the new location and then hit them while there down."

"How do you know there down?" Adrian asked, eyebrows raised.

"The packs reeling right now. I was in charge Adrian, at the moment they're either coming up with some kind of plan of attack or there planning for us to attack, but what they wont expect is an attack less then a few days after I've died."

He was staring at me with that thoughtful look again and I frowned. "Your one twisted kid aren't you?"

"What?" I asked confused. The hell did that have to do with anything?

"Your total disregard for the people you loved days ago. That doesn't bother you?" Man, either i was blind to just how good i was really acting, or maybe those moments of non existant feeling were actually leaking into reality. I had been hoping it was just my imagination.

"Nothing does," I said simply. I didn't understand why he cared whether I was a cold hearted monster or not.

"Your fine with attacking them? With hurting your family?"

"Hurting people is what I'm best at, or haven't you heard?"

He chuckled and leaned forward, so that we were face to face and I stiffened at the sensation that washed over me. I could feel him now. I could feel the power inside of him, and if that wasn't disturbing the sudden rush that came from knowing all I had to do was ask and it would be mine, was on so many levels. It made me a little sick.

Adrian could see this, saw it in my eyes, which were probably dilated and hungry. He smirked a little, "your just so beautifully dark, and you were just born to this, it's nature Mara, it's all natural. What you were made for. I can't wait for you to finally take your place in the world," he kissed my cheek very lightly and oddly enough the kiss hurt. Not just hurt, but sort of burned. He hadn't touched me once since everything that had happened in my bedroom. He hadn't mentioned it either. Though he was keeping close to me, which I didn't understand but also didn't bring up. That was not a conversation i wanted to have, let another with a demon.

Then he was gone, probably to get Danielle and the others. As soon as he was out of sight, I was finally able to breathe again. What the hell was that all about? And why did I feel so light headed. Fucking demons. Now he was just trying to screw with me. And it was freaking working. I needed a drink after this. A heavy one and maybe three more after that. Or twelve more, I wasn't sure yet.

"Yes, hunters for dinner, my favorite," Denise said, sliding down the stair railing. See what i mean, cannibalism. When she got close enough, I reached out and pushed slightly, and she fell down the remaining steps in a tumble. Christian and Danielle laughed.

"Were not killing the hunters, we need intel," I told Denise, giving her a look and she raised her arms in surrender. At least they listened to me.

"More like she wants to get laid," Christian said in a knowing voice, and I made a disgusted sound. Seriously? Did they have to make sure disturbing comments? And I thought we were bad. Or the pack, considering 'we' was know 'them'.

"If you dont want to have sex with them, can we?" Danielle asked me curiously, "cause Sam is seriously delicious."

"I feel like were talking about luck charms or something, and I don't think the Winchesters are going to have sex with any of you," I said sighing heavily as we piled into the car.

"Why are they gay?" Christian asked, a little hopeful. We all stared at him.

"Are you?" Adrian asked, not all that impressed with him.

Adrian tended to look down on them for some reason. It almost made me wonder why. But they were like animals. They didn't think logically anymore. It was almost as if when they'd died, they automatically threw out the rule book. But apparently they chose to act like retarded bloodthirsty monkeys on crack. Danielle and I were proof of that. At least I hoped it was a choice. If I finally did give in like everyone else, I hoped to God I didn't act like them. I liked my brain. I was smart, what a waste my entire life of out smarting the rest of the world would become if I became a total dumbass in death. You know, more so then the way I'd been acting recently.

"No, just curious," he said shrugging.

"Bi-curious?" Danielle chirped innocently and I snickered a little.

"The Winchesters aren't gay, but I highly doubt they'd go for jail bait either, certainly not dead jail bait," I finally tossed in. "There more likely to chop off their own hand before they slept with us."

"Why?" Denise asked, pouting slightly.

"Were not jail bait if were dead. We don't grow anymore," Christian said seriously and that just flat out didn't make any sense. How the hell did Marcus look like a seventeen year old if we stopped aging? Yeah, there was something wrong with that theory. Or there was something wrong with Marcus. Either was likely, i was putting my smart money on the latter.

"Were murderers, and you two have probably killed hunters they know. I'm sure murder is something they frown upon."

"Your a murderer and Dean was into you," Danielle said in a contradictory tone and I burst out laughing.

"No he wasn't, where the hell did you get that from?"

"Man, for a criminal mastermind, your kind of oblivious to the rest of the universe outside of your little family," she said frowning at me.

"That's because the rest of the world didn't matter," I said frowning, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Didn't?" Danielle repeated, giving me a weird look, "never thought I'd see the day where you of all people couldn't care less about the family you spent years protecting."

"Shit happens," was all I said. I was not getting into this with her or anyone else. I know, I was supposed to be pretending to be a total heartless monster, which is usually easy, and no actual pretending involved. But this is Pack and it's different. And I was in a bad mood.

"Alright, Denise, Adrian go get us a vehicle, a van maybe. Danielle, you up for this?" I asked curiously. She was grinning widely now and nodded furiously. I looked over to Christian and nodded. He pulled out his cell phone and called in a fake shooting. Less then a minute later we watched about four people exit the police station.

It wasn't enough, so when I gave him another nod, he crossed the street and pressed his hand to a telephone pole. I watched something spark but nothing else happened. He walked back towards us and as he reached us, grinning ear to ear something exploded down the street in sparks, blocks of concrete and flames. I jumped in surprise, watching two other telephone poles down the block come crashing down into two separate buildings. I even heard some screaming.

"You wanted a distraction," was all he said, still grinning and then we pushed away from the shadow under the building. Six more police officers came running out and went straight down the street. I wasn't sure what building he'd blown up, but it looked like a library or something, considering how big the fire was and the fact that about two dozen people were standing outside watching. Someone was crying and I assumed that some poor guy was stuck in there. _Oh well_.

We walked into the police station and everyone noticed us. There were about a dozen men in here. It didn't take long for them to notice us and the three of us just stood there when they all pulled out guns.

"Now now, let's not do anything hasty," Danielle purred, moving to stand directly at my side. Her eyes were practically glowing. Everyone looked to have frozen now too, and then all at once there arms came down, "Gentlemen, were looking for Sam and Dean Winchesters, we'd love an escort."

Slowly two men stepped forward, with sort of glazed over looks on their faces. I was impressed, and by the looks of it, so was Christian. "Take them to the Winchesters, and release them, but keep 'em cuffed," she didn't look away from them now, making the orders nice and clear for them. Despite how strong she'd gotten since dying, she still needed to make verbal commands, and by the looks of it, she couldn't leave the larger group of people without her control slipping. Still, I had to admit that was a cool trick. All I could do was burn shit.

The two somewhat cops led us down a lock corridor and straight in front of the Winchesters. They jumped up, swearing heavily. "Hello boys, funny finding you here," I said amused. They shared looks and I gave the cop a look. I could see some sort of struggle in his eyes, he was fighting Danielle. He took a step towards the cells and I reached forward, taking the gun from his belt. Christian took the other officers gun and then at my nod, he reached forward, taking his hand. "Stop!" Sam shouted, and I just grinned a little. The officer seized up, and the smell burning flesh surrounded us, then he collapsed in a heap, smoke rising and blood pouring onto the ground.

I guess distance was an issue Danielle and I would have to practice with. I lifted it up to the remaining officers head, "play nice, believe me, I don't have a problem putting a bullet in your skull. Open the doors."

He opened the doors, and I gestured at the Winchesters. Slowly they exited the cell and Christian shoved them in front of us a little. I shot the last police officer, "you didn't have to kill them, they didn't do anything wrong," Dean said glaring at me hatefully.

"No, your right, but it's just so much fun," I said smirking a little. "Walk."

They glared at me and we got out to the main area and found Danielle standing with Adrian and Denise now. Denise smiled widely, like it was Christmas and squealed a little, "thank you, thank you, thank you," she sang to me, rushing towards me and surprising the hell out of me by hugging me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. I shoved her off irritated and gave her a frown.

"You don't get to play with them yet, right now, they're mine, understand?" she just nodded, and practically danced out of the station.

"You alright?" Adrian asked me, having watched the weird display in amusement. I ignored him and he grinned even more.

"Get them in the car, Danielle?" she nodded.

"Gentlemen, lets make a little circle," they all moved towards her, circling up. "Now everyone pull out your weapons, take the safety off, and point at the face of the officer to your right."

"Danielle, don't, stop!" Dean shouted, rushing forward, Sam just stared helplessly. He understood what we were capable of. Simply shouting at us, wasn't going to stop us. Christian grabbed him on the shoulder and he froze, shook for a moment and then tumbled to the ground, panting heavily and dizzy. I don't know what he had planned to do, he still had cuffs on and it wouldn't have been hard for one of us to take him out.

"Pull the trigger," every shot echoed as one huge one and blood exploded around us and I gave a sound of disgust when it got all over the side of my face. Danielle seemed to have been the only one not to get splashed with blood.

Danielle turned back to me now, looking a little apprehensive, "Good job," I said, giving her a smile and she let out a relieved breath, glad to have impressed me I suppose. Then she just exited the building, with a sort of bounce in her step and probably still smiling.

"You spoil her," Christian said frowning at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we boys?" I asked them curiously. They just glared at me, but turned and walked out. As soon as they were through the the doors, Christian reached forward, shocking them enough for them to fall to the ground unconscious.

We put them into the van, and Danielle and Adrian stayed with me when I drove. I figured Danielle would be able to control them if they woke up. I just hoped they didn't wake up before we got to town. There was always the option of knocking them out again, but I wasn't sure how much more brain damage they could take in one day. I didn't need them a drooling mess on the ground.

They woke up a little after we turned down the road to the house, thankfully. So aside from knowing they took a long road to get to the house we were occupying, they had no idea where we were. Unless they'd been to the house before, but I thought that was unlikely.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just kidnap us and expect them not to notice," Sam said, a little slurred and annoyed.

"Great, if they come to the rescue then we don't have to go looking for them tomorrow."

"What do you mean go looking for them?" Dean asked, shaking his head a little to keep from toppling over again.

"Camilla is dead and we need to pick up someone to replace her," Danielle said, shrugging.

"There your family Mara, does that not matter to you at all? What do you even need another psychic kid for, you have a dozen of them! Leave them alone."

"That isn't an option, and what can I say, I miss my friends, I would love to pay them a visit, wouldn't you Danielle?" I asked, grinning a little.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to see Patrick again, he was always just adorable when he froze up in front of you," she said giggling excitedly.

Adrian quirked an eyebrow at me and I shrugged as we pulled up to the house.

"Who are you, your not a psychic kid," Dean said next, dropping the subject to look at Adrian now.

"He's a demon," was all Sam said.

"How do you-, oh," was all Dean said, clenching his jaw.

"What?" I asked confused, "how can you be so sure?"

"Sam was addicted to demon blood," Adrian said, glancing back at Sam who wore one of the guiltiest expressions I've seen.

"That shits addictive?" I asked wide eyed and more then a little freaked out.

"Yeah, think of it as crack times five," Dean said, glancing over at his brother, who was looking away from everyone now.

"Well, that's fucked up, anyways, get out, I'm hungry," Danielle ordered, and Dean did. Sam, not so much. Danielle said it was always more difficult to control other demon kids after practice. Probably because were made of the same stuff.

"Your always hungry," was all I said, rolling my eyes and getting out of the van. To be fair, I was kind of freaked out. Nobody mentioned demon blood being addictive. I didn't feel addicted to anything. Not unless you count how badly I craved Bella and my brothers, but that was normal. Normal for me anyways.

"How'd it go?" Marcus asked, standing on the porch of the house, Jonathon and Aaron, or 'the muscle' as I'd deemed them, standing on either side of them.

"Surprisingly well, Danielle and I need to go over some stuff, but she did well," I said nodding slightly, and Danielle beamed at me happily and Marcus nodded once.

"Who are you?" Dean asked confused.

"Mara's long lost brother," Aaron said smirking. Both the Winchesters turned to give me the weirdest look yet and I pointedly ignored them.

"Where do you want them?" I asked Marcus eyebrows raised.

"Keep an eye on Dean, why don't we give Sam the tour? Who knows, he may even like it here," Marcus said, staring at Sam thoughtfully. Sam looked kind of awkward. I couldn't blame him, Marcus had practically just invited the kid to move in.

"No, we stay together," Dean said, suddenly worried for his brothers life.

"I don't think so. You don't want to be with your brother, remember Dean?" Danielle said, touching his arm, in that smooth purr she got in her voice when she used her ability. Dean just looked kind of blank for a moment. Sam glared at me, and I gave him a disbelieving look, I didn't tell her to do that. Not that i wouldn't have if push came to shove. But still.

"Relax, no one wants to hurt you here Sam, well, no one except Denise and I'm pretty sure she's getting dinner," I said shrugging.

Marcus gave me a calculating look, and then gave me one that clearly said 'get the job done'. I just nodded, intertwined hands with Dean and tugged him into the house. He followed after giving Sam a paranoid look.


	25. Going Darkside

"He'll be fine, your my toys right now, no one will touch him," I promised, guiding him upstairs. We got to my room and I flipped on a single lamp. It was dark in here, I hadn't bothered opening the curtains at all in the last few days. I liked the illusion of privacy that my room offered.

"What no ropes or chains?" Dean retorted when I dropped down onto my bed. He'd closed the door, locking it and probably expecting me to lock him down or something.

"Dean, the entire house will know in under a minute if you two step out of line. Even less if you try to take off. So no, we don't really need to lock you up," I said, more then a little tired. I would love to sleep right about now.

He looked kind of weird just standing in the center of the room so I rolled onto my stomach and put my arms under my head, leaving room for him if he chose to sit down on the bed rather then the table. Closing my eyes I yawned a little, I was really tired now, it was late and I hadn't slept in two days.

"Are you still Mara?" Dean asked quietly, and I realized his voice had neared. I felt the bed dip and opened my eyes to see that Dean had tensely laid down on his back next to me.

"No," I said, letting my eyes slip closed. "The Mara you know died, I just wear her face and body."

"You still seem like Mara, only more bloodthirsty," he said quietly, "I mean, you haven't hurt us, and I know Mara wouldn't try to hurt us, or at least, not badly."

"If you say so," I said evenly.

"Why haven't you asked about Bella?" he asked after a moment of thoughtful silence.

"Am I supposed to?" I said in the same half hearted tone. I was dying with curiosity, but I knew Dean wouldn't resist bringing it up. All so curious if I was still Mara. But no, Mara was fading.

"You know why we were in Ashland, you left that message for her, rather then wait for us. You know we were arrested leaving, and yet you haven't asked about whether or not Bella was hurt or arrested. You don't make any sense," he said finally, sounding more then a little exasperated. I kept from tensing, I knew she might've been arrested, but I didn't think she'd be hurt or anything. If she was arrested, it would only be a matter of hours before the pack busted her out.

"When have I ever made sense?" I retorted, amused.

"So you don't care whatsoever that Bella was shot in the chest and carried away in a helicopter?" he retorted in the most judgemental, condescending tone I'd ever heard come from him.

"We'd know if Bella was dead or not Dean. We'd feel it," _I'd feel it, _my mind added mentally. Even if I wasn't demonic or whatever, I'd feel her death.

"So your not worried about her at all?" he asked, and I looked up to see him shaking his head as if he were disgusted with me. "She fucking loves you Mara. First you break her heart and then rip apart your family. Then when you die, you just bail on us. The people that care about you are worried sick and then when your girlfriend is shot and arrested searching for you, you couldn't care less."

"Bella and I aren't together anymore Dean. In case you haven't noticed, dying changes a person. Want to know what I felt when I woke up?" he looked unsure now, "nothing. I felt nothing. I feel nothing and when I do feel, it's only to tear shit apart. You can't beat us Dean. Not without first feeling the things we do. Maybe then you'd stop questioning me and asking me why I no longer care about people I loved just weeks ago."

"I have died, more then once and I've felt less then nothing too you know, but I didn't torture my family and try to destroy the world because of it."

"I guess that's where were different. You think I care about the world we live in? It's slowly falling apart on it's own and it's just a matter of time before society implodes. When it does, I'll be at the root of it all. Give up Dean, because you can't beat me. Nothing has ever beat me. And nothing ever will."

"Your brother beat you," he said coldly, "and whatever you sick freaks have planned. I'll stop it. I don't care what I have to do. But I will. Because I don't have a choice. You haven't given any of us a choice and if I have to kill you, I fucking will."

"I'm terrified," I said in a bored flat tone. I sat up a little, giving him a long sigh. "Dean, I'm not going anywhere. I get what you want from me. I know what everyone wants from me. I know what Bella and the pack wants, I know what my brother wants, what the FBI and what everyone else wants. It all boils down to one single thing. They all want me. But as I said, I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't even if I wanted to and I don't. I belong here. I belong with my brother." The words sounded a little hollow and I didn't bother keeping the strained sound from my voice. It was an obvious lie, but the fact that I said it would bother Dean regardless of how real it was.

"Your fucked," he said standing, and began pacing the room. "I don't want to kill you Mara, but it sounds like you want me to."

"I'm already dead, so why not? You like to kill monsters, think of me as a zombie with really good hygiene," he gave me the weirdest look now and I burst out laughing. "Dean this is going to end one of two ways, and quite frankly, I'm going to be dead either way. So, you know, quit spazzing."

"Are your suicidal or something?" he asked groaning, as I reminded him of my impending death. I was still going to die after all. For good. One way ticket to hell.

"No, it's just a simple fact. I'm not afraid of dying. I send dozens of other people into the next life, I'm not afraid of death. I never have been."

"Your going to die, and the last thing your going to do in this world is destroy your family?"

"This is my family now," I said shrugging once. I couldn't care less if my new family died.

Someone knocked on the door and a second later Marcus had picked the lock and strolled in. "What's with all the shouting?" Adrian asked, coming in from around the corner.

"Dean's having a hissy fit," I said amused.

"I thought your family was dead," Dean said staring at Marcus and we all kind of shared weird looks. "How come the angels don't know about you?"

"Your kind of slow aren't you?" Adrian asked unimpressed.

"Where do you think we've been getting orders from. Angels," I said as if it were obvious. Now he just looked lost.

"What? That's impossible. Angels aren't evil."

"Nobody said anything about them being evil. So where are the psychic kids?" Marcus asked, turning his attention to me.

"Didn't ask yet. Jesus, we've only been up here a few minutes," I said rolling my eyes. Adrian came towards the bed, dropping down onto it and laying with his arms under his head, looking totally at ease. Demons were freaking weird.

Adrian just always seemed to be as cool as a cucumber and sometimes I envied that. I used to be so good at being calm and collected. Or maybe I did look that way and I just didn't see it because I was always freaked out over something.

"Get off my bed," I said finally, glaring at him a little.

"You and I are going to spend some one-on-one time," was all he said shrugging.

"What?" I nearly shouted, my gaze shooting to Marcus. "What the fuck Marcus!"

"Tomorrows going to be difficult. I need you at your best," Marcus said evenly. Then turned to Dean. "Go find your brother." But Dean wasn't looking at Marcus, he was looking at my panicked expression with worry. Marcus practically shoved Dean out the door.

"Mara?" he asked warily and very much confused, standing in the doorway.

"Just go," I nearly shouted at him, he looked even more worried and the door slammed closed and locked, Adrian's parlor tricks probably. I started shouting again. "This is bullshit. I can handle tomorrow Marcus!"

"No, you can't. Your exhausted and were leaving in less then three hours. Danielle will be able to get it out of Dean when she wakes up. You'll feel better. I can see your reluctance about attacking them and I need you focused."

"I'll be fine Marcus, I don't need it," I said, sounding more desperate then I'd meant to. God, this was pathetic. Here, I'm supposed to be convincing the world I'm an evil monster chick and I choke up at the first sign of trouble. I sighed heavily, falling backwards. Both of them looked highly amused with me. "Fine. Get out."

"Excellent," was all he said, looking at Adrian, "I want her ready by four."

"Not a problem," Adrian said nodding once. Then Marcus was gone. "You going to be alright?"

"Let's get this over with."

I must've just been laying there, because I completely zoned out. I hadn't even realized that the door had practically been kicked in and Dean had come barging in. "Whoa," I said wide eyed staring at Dean. Now he was just kind of staring at me. Adrian had jumped off the bed and rushed Dean. Shoving him against the wall.

"What have you done to her?" Dean shouted, suddenly furious and then struck out at Adrian. They fought for a moment and I wasn't sure what had happened until Dean was leaning over me. He sat me up and I frowned, suddenly confused. He lifted me to face him and then he reached out for the light. I guess Adrian lost.

"No, dont-," the light went on when he turned to me he kind of just stared. I pulled myself away from him, feeling suddenly self-conscious. I pulled myself into a stand, and lost my balance knocking over the table and stumbling towards the bathroom. I lost my balance and then went crashing to the ground when I tripped over a bag or a boot or something. Well that's a little embarassing.

"Jesus," Dean said somewhere behind me. Then warm arms lifted me up and he pulled me into his arms with my back pressed to his chest. "What have you done to yourself Mara?" he whispered quietly, and I felt a wet rag press against my face and I felt even more embarassed as he began wiping at the blood smeared around my lips. After a moment, I reached up and took the rag from him and did it myself.

When I didn't feel anymore I dropped the rag and sighed heavily. I felt stoned. More stoned then I'd felt in a long time, or since the last time this happened. Either way, I felt kind of numb and yet electrified at the same time. It was like fireworks had gone off inside of me, every part of me, mind, body and soul. Dean felt pretty good holding me too though, but so had Adrian, so I just figured the person didn't matter.

"How many times have you done this?" he asked quietly and turned me in his arms slightly. He pushed the hair from my face, frowning at my glassy expression.

"Um, twice?" then I remembered, he was asking, "yeah, uh, twice."

"No wonder why you looked so freaked out earlier. Why are you drinking demon blood, Mara?" he sounded strange, like he was trying to stay calm but his mind was going a hundred miles an hour.

"I dont know," was my brilliant answer, "no one was supposed to know." Really? Is that really my response? Damn.

"Well I know and I'm telling you now, this isn't a road you want to go down."

"Dean, this is a road I've been on for years. You can't get much worse then me," I pointed out and cringed a little when my voice slurred slightly.

"Well you look like you got it all together," he sneered a ltitle and I gave him an unamused look. "Seriously, give me one good reason why I shouldn't out you to your family."

"Like they would care, and neither do I," I was bluffing, but I had to try. There were some things my family just couldn't know about me. This was one of them, patricide and matricide were also obviously on the list.

"Dont push me away Mara, just tell me the truth. You can trust me," it was cute that he thought that.

"Well, I want power, this is the fastest albeit stupid way to get it," I said as it should be obvious. I was power hungry, I probably would've contemplated this some time down the road, if it weren't for the fact that my crazy brother had forced me into it.

I tried to stand, this time far more successful and I took a deep breath when my head clouded a little bit. Dean stood behind me, holding my eyes as I stood in front of the mirror, gripping the porcelain sink. I held his gaze for a moment before looking back into the mirror. I didn't look so bad, my pupils were glassy and dilated, but I didn't look nearly as bad as last time.

Dean just shook his head and left the room, I flipped him off, but he had glanced back. He gave me a dark look when I lowered my arm quickly, surprised he'd turned back. "Whoops," I mumbled and then shrugged it off and went through the process of showering.

Soon we would be killing Hunter Carass. I suppose I should feel bad, but again, I got that whole couldn't care less feeling. Sure, I'd felt it before, it seemed different somehow. Marcus had made it pretty clear that we'd eventually kill all the psychic kids and bring them into the fold, but I guess he was having control difficulties. He was in charge of about ten people, and the six demons I've seen walking around in the last day or so. He'd brought more in after the first demon blood session thing. I didn't understand why, but they were cleaning up after everyone. Which I thought was kind of freaky, but I'd refrained from commenting so far.

Dean came out of nowhere, Sam right behind him. They both looked severely pissed off and for a moment I thought Dean had said something. But no, I knew Dean well enough to know he'd keep things to himself. At least when it came to me. Could you imagine having to be the one to tell someone's family that their half dead sister and lover was drinking demon blood? I had one angry venegful family. They might actually shoot the messenger. We'd all done it once or twice before.

"You can't kill Hunter, Mara, you can't just murder your friends," Sam said glowering at me heavily.

I gave them a long dramatic sigh, crossing my arms and leaning against the door frame into the living room. "I don't recall Hunter being a friend. He was mostly some kid I was training, and for a ridiculous reason to. You can't beat Marcus and I gave up fighting with him a long time ago," not true, but I felt like it should be said sooner or later.

The more that they thought I didn't care about everyone back home, the more all of them would hate me. Once Marcus saw or heard or felt what I was doing, the more he'd let his guard down. I needed him to slip up and say something he wasn't supposed to. This was one of those situations where a person goes way too far to get what they want. But either way, i was doing it.

"You ready beautiful?" Adrian asked me, looking up from some kind of map. Poor Dean, he didn't stand a chance when it came to Danielle's mind control abilities.

Dean glared at him hatefully, and Adrian grinned widely, challenging him. "This should be interesting," was all I said, amused and more then a little excited. Goddamn did I ever feel good. As if I were still high or something, who knows maybe I was. There was no coming down from something like that. It linged for hours, and you didn't seem to crave more later on, because you still felt the power of it inside of you. Everything felt intense, my senses, my only thoughts, and voice seemed slightly overwhelming. It was both unnerving and fascinating all at once.

"You can't kill him Mara, dont go," Dean said to me finally, breaking off his staring contest with Adrian. "Dont do this. The more you push everyone away, the more they'll start to hate and resent you."

"You say that like I don't know. Haven't we been over this? I couldnt care less, get with the program would you?" Marcus came around the corner talking to 'the muscle' and giving them clear orders to stay close to me. Marcus turned to me now, after giving the Winchesters a long thoughtful look. I hated when he had that expression on his face. It almost reminded me of the Marcus that I used to know. Almost, but not quite.

"Hunter Carass will be yours," he said pointedly, making it clear that the rest of the room over heard as well. I kind of wondered what the spell to change masters entailed, but figured finding out meant losing Danielle, and again, I wasn't about to let that happen. Not that I'd have a much choice in the matter. But i would put up one hell of a fight to keep her.

"Awesome," I said, grinning widely. Sam and Dean shared looks, "alright let's get this show on the road. When you find Hunter, bring him to me. We dont want to be there any longer then necessary." Everyone nodded there agreement and most of us made for the cars. The majority of demons were staying behind, along with Aaron and Christian to babysit the Winchesters. The other ten of us would be going on this little road trip.

It was quiet most of the trip, and honestly I knew the Winchesters would get out of the house somehow, and I also knew they'd probably call and give the house a heads up. I was just hoping we'd be close by in case they made a run for it. As long as the pack was unharmed, I wasn't too concerned.

"Danielle I want you to stay with Lori, Beth and Michael, okay?" she frowned at me. "I dont know if your ability will be useable on them."

"What makes you say that?" Marcus asked me frowning.

"Because of the training we've had. Danielle's never used her ability on the pack and I dont want to risk it in such a situation. Were mentally strong, you can't consider them humans when it comes to mental shielding. I've trained them to be immune to outside influences, we have a control over ourselves that other people can't even dream of. Bella's probably trained them to defend against your influence as well. So stick with the their team. There the strongest," I said giving her a smile. It wasn't because I thought she'd be useless, I just didn't want to risk losing her. If my half assed plan became more defined, she'd play a big part in it.

"Alright, if it's what you want," she said, a little bummed out.

"Actually, you know what kind of training the psychic kids have, I want you to find Hunter for me," I said after a thoughtful moment. Who better to bring Hunter to me then Danielle? She smiled widely, accepting this new job with more enthusiasm.

We parked just down the road from Adam's place and I couldn't tell how many people were home. It felt like almost everyone was here. I noted the lack of Bella's car and assumed it was impounded when the Winchesters were picked up. I figured she would've gotten it though. We were coming up the driveway when I felt it. Or the lack of. Bella wasn't here. I couldn't feel her. I could always feel Bella. But she wasn't here, and the rest of the pack was. Why hadn't anyone gone to get her? Did they not know?

I knew they'd feel me, so I gave the other groups a nod and then we all split up and attacked from all sides. Someone aimed at Marcus and Adrian, who were honestly, just watching. I rolled my eyes a little, running towards the house. I jumped over the porch railing and hit them before they'd even turned around.

I could hear more gunshots from the inside, and then kicked in the front door. Johnathon fought with the next person that appeared, which was Michelle and when she caught sight of me I waved a little. She was so shocked to see me, she took Jonathon's hit full force and then crashed to the ground unconscious.

"Too much," was all I said to him. He just gave me that slightly twisted grin, which unsurprisingly, was much like my own.

"Mara," someone breathed, and I turned to Chris and Patrick.

"Hello boys," I said smiling, raising a gun and shooting at them. I kept the shots close enough that to everyone around me, Chris included, thought I was shooting to kill. I knew my shots wouldn't hit him though. They'd jumped out of the way and then I heard someone come up on my right.

I turned, side stepped at the same time, grasped the gun and then pulled hard. Luke struck out at me, and I flipped the gun, using the end and getting him hard in the jaw. I turned, as soon as Adam came around the corner and put a bullet hole in Jonathon, before he'd even turned around.

I watched Jonathon's body hit the ground, momentarily surprised. I hadn't even noticed Adam, or if I had, I didn't really care. Adam kept the gun on me and I knew without a doubt that he'd pull the trigger, and that was only because he had the gun sighted and aimed at my chest. They could always make some sort of attempt to save me and then lock me down or something. I felt Danielle tug on me, searching for me and I summoned her. She'd found Hunter.

"What do you want?" Adam asked coldly.

"Oh baby, I want it all," I said grinning from ear to ear.

"What have you done with Bella?" Chris asked from somewhere behind me. I wouldn't be surprised to see two more guns pointed at me.

"I haven't done anything with Bella. We dont have her," I said, more then a little amused. It was fake, i was very much worried about Bella know that i knew they had no idea she'd be arrested.

Adam looked confused and then I heard several other people close in and Michelle was starting to stir. I suppose it said something, that we didn't come up with much of a plan, let alone a back up plan. Where were the other dead kids? I'll admit they weren't the brightest bunch, but there was no way they won the fight. I mean, Chris and Adam were pack, they'd be two of the strongest assets and here they were, talking with me.

"So boys, how is your plan to save the world going?" I asked casually, as if the three of them weren't holding guns on me.

"It'd be easier if you came home," I heard Brandon said, also from somewhere to my far right.

"What can I say, the darksides just so much more fun," I said grinning widely. "You could join us too you know."

"It wont end well Mara, we can help you, if you just come home," you know, it really says something that they went with the intervention route while who knows what's going on just behind the scenes. And Danielle was getting closer.

"Still haven't told them have you Patrick?" I asked, mildly surprised, but then gave him a clear look to keep this secret to himself or he would be up to bat next.

"Told us what?" Chris asked, and I felt him pull his gaze from me.

"Nobody lives forever," was all I said, and then took a deep breath and my body flared with heat and power. I directed it outward, and then blue flames exploded from my body, throwing everyone backwards and setting this part of the room on fire. Several gunshots went off in the process, but I had already moved out of the way. I hissed when I felt a bullet graze my side, and then Hunter appeared in front of me.

"Mara, no!" someone shouted from behind me, but I'd already plunged the knife deep into his chest.

I gave him a dark feral smile, "your mine now." He froze for a moment, then collapsed unconscious. Gunshots sounded, this time coming from the outside windows and Lori grabbed me and spun us to that she was standing in front of me, and as she held my hand, I realized the bullets were flying straight through us. I'd always wondered what she could do. She was a Ghost, as we called it. We stepped down out of the way, and then down off the porch.

"You almost got killed," Marcus said, glowering at me.

"Yeah, I hear that happens when you barge in on well trained fighters with no plan," I said amused.

"How you feeling?"

"Pretty fucking good," I said as we melted back into the woods. I glanced back at the house, and broke into a dark smirk when I found my brothers staring back at me. Oh yeah. We would win. I honestly couldn't say whether or not that notion pleased me or worried me. I cared so much less about everything. It could've been any number of things. But for the first time I felt free. Free of hindering emotion. I felt strong again. Stronger then the day Marcus had set me free. I didn't just feel strong. I felt powerful. It had been like flipping a switch on my abilities today and it hadn't even tired me. It felt amazing. I felt amazing.


	26. The Definition Of Temptation

_I know I'm breaking your heart_

_Every storm that tears us apart_

_I know I'm to blame for all the damage I've done_

_But you know that I'm ready to take the fall_

_I never said I was angel_

_I never said I wouldn't break down_

_Cause I wear my heart on my sleeve_

_If you cut me I'll bleed_

_I know I cannot erase_

_Every mistake that I've made_

**Six Months After Hunter Carass' Death**

**Flashback**

_"You can't stay here forever," Mara whispered into my hair sadly. I was currently laying contentedly in her arms as she ran her hands through my hair, occasionally kissing my forehead lightly. It made me shiver every time she gave me such feather light touches._

_We were at our old house, the boys had gone out somewhere. Who knows where, they come and go, but Mara and I hung back sometimes, just be alone together. It wasn't that we needed the silence, but we needed the peace, to breathe. Of course, being with Mara was the same as breathing, and we all breathed for one another. But sometimes I just liked to share my breath with Mara. If they makes any sense._

_"Why not?" I asked her confused, "don't you want me to be here with you?" I stirred in her arms a little, turning to look up at her. We were laying tangled up in each other, both of us still wearing the dresses from the harvest celebration our town held every year. It was one of my favorite times of the year. I loved fall, well fall and winter anyways. Mara was like winter, I used to hate winter, but she was just so much like it that when I fell in love with Mara, everything related made me hold nothing but fondness for it. _

_She gave me that smile. That smile that made my heart stutter and my stomach fill with butterflies. It was the smile she gave me when she wanted me to know she loved me. "Of course I want you silly. But you have to wake up sometime."_

_I didn't know what she meant by that, and it made me wary. What did that even mean? "But I am awake." A breeze flew over the porch, and I could hear leaves tumbling around in the back yard, my hair slipped away with the breeze and Mara reached out, pushing it behind my ears. The touch was calming instantly. _

_"Are you?" she asked me with a tone and look in her eyes that made me wonder. She always had a way of making me question and wonder things. She could make anyone question things. Once I'd seen her convince a man that the sky was red and we were all about to die._

_"Why do you think I'm not awake? Were talking, the last time I checked you can't do that in your sleep."_

_"Were special Bella. We always have been. We've been linked for years. It was only a matter of time before we found each other in the dreamscape."_

_"Dream?" I repeated, uneasiness setting in my stomach. I turned in her arms, and I clung to her. "I don't want to go anywhere. I love you Mara, why does it sound like you want me to leave you?"_

_"You can't float in limbo forever Bella."_

_"What does that even mean?" I asked getting frustrated. But she just smiled at me again and my body relaxed as I melted into her arms. I watched the sun fall, leaving us in the cool fall air and I shivered. She smiled and then kissed me so intensely any feelings of being anything but warm vanished from my mind. Mara had a way of just setting me on fire. It drove me nuts. _

_"You don't need to go anywhere if your not ready. You'll always belong by my side."_

_But then I had the urge to ask her something. Something I couldn't quite understand myself, but had to ask anyways. The words hurt when I finally choked them out, "why did you leave me?"_

_She gave me an odd look now, "I've never left you Bella, not really."_

_"But you did, you left me," I said, voice breaking. "I loved you. You left me to die."_

_She smiled sadly now, giving me a calming kiss, "I'll never leave you Bella. I'll always be around somewhere, in the shadows, in the corners of your mind. I'll always be there watching."_

_"But you left me to die, and I needed you," I accused, sitting up and pulling away from her. I ignored the hurt look in her eyes, "you tried to kill me."_

_She continued to look hurt now, but then very quietly she stood, "we all have to die some day Bella. No one lives forever. Not even you." Then she was walking, instinctively I reached out, and she just faded, as if she were mist. How had she done that?_

_"Mara, please come back, I didn't mean it," I called after her, pleading with nothing but cool night air. I felt eyes water, "come back. Please Mara, come back," I said tears sliding down my cheeks. "Come back."_

"Bella?" I glanced over at the door, Chris stood there looking more then a little uncertain.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting and knowing instantly something was going down.

"Mara and Marcus are going after the Volturi, the Alice Cullen is back," I groaned and stood up. I hated when they showed up here. We'd been tracking Mara and Marcus for months now. They always seemed to be two steps ahead of us. Whenever we managed to get one step ahead of them, we'd find we were really five steps back. It was frustrating to no end.

Slowly over the last several months they'd begun to start chaos across the globe. The first time we got wind of it, we realized they'd assassinated two united nations leaders. They set off several of the American bombs and the president along with everyone else at the white house swears up and down it wasn't them.

They'd pitted two strong dark magic witch covens against one another. We also suspected that they were the ones behind the murders of four angels. The angels of course laughed when we suggested it and said that they held control over them and that it was impossible. Slowly they were sowing the seeds of discord in both worlds.

We'd tried and failed to stop them three times now. The first time Marcus had ordered her to kill me. She tried and she almost succeeded. I honestly couldn't even tell if Mara had resisted at all. Sure she spoke like she was enjoying this new game, but I could always look into her eyes and see the truth. Until now. She'd looked completely and utterly thrilled to get the kill order for me, I wasn't even sure if it was a request or an order, the excitement in her eyes just completely threw me off. I couldn't tell if it was real or fake, that's how far out of my reach she was. When I saw her eyes, I'd frozen up a little.

That had almost cost me my life. I'd ended up in a coma for five weeks. The entire time I'd been asleep, I could've sworn I was with Mara. It had all seemed so real. She even said it was real and when I woke up, I thought she would be there. When she wasn't I was crushed. When I saw her afterwards she didn't seem to have any recollection of it and she had been awake while I was asleep, so it must've been my imagination. Right? Only it didn't feel like it. Even when I saw her after I'd woken up, she still had that darkness in her eyes, that 'come and play' look.

She loved when we met up with them, because it was a full out fight that seemed to be evenly matched. We'd only managed to kill two of the dead kids, pathetically enough. But you had to go above and beyond to kill them it seemed. Two times over kill them. Maybe three. I wasn't sure how we'd killed them exactly, luck mostly. And isn't that something to brag about? Not.

I also had the sneaking suspicion she had been the one to free me from the maximum security prison I got locked up in. I'd gotten rescued by someone, but I had been so doped up I couldn't tell if it was Jesus or Mara. Who knows, maybe it was Jesus. That seemed far more likely considering just hours before I'd somehow been broken out, Mara had shoved a knife through Hunters heart and disappeared with the others.

Slowly but surely, Mara had become are biggest target. She was Marcus's main weapon now. She seemed to just do his bidding. Even the pack had begun to despise her. She'd done so much damage to every person here. Whether it was a taunt, one that would haunt you for weeks, almost as if she was in your head. Or physical damage, she was vicious, cold hearted and bloodthirsty. She was ruthless and it terrified me to be the on the other end of the stick, sort of speak. None of us ever thought Mara would be the one to turn against us. But she'd tried to kill each of us on multiple occasions. She was a monster. I had never known what the word meant until today.

Chris stuck to my side as we moved down the hall and down the stairs to the living room. Jasper and Alice stood stock still when they saw me. I remembered when they'd caught up to us in New York, it had ended horribly. I'd almost killed Emmett and Rosalie, but damn did that blonde vamp ever get under my skin sometimes. Like she's so much better then I am.

"What'd you see?" I asked, not bothering with pleasantries.

"She set fire to the Volturi, she wanted something from them. Names, our names were on the list," ah, and there it is ladies and gentlemen.

"Your scared of a little human girl?" I mocked, a smirk in place.

"She isn't human, at least not completely. She can control fire Bella, I've seen it. That could kill us, and the Volturi are the rulers of the vampire kingdom. If they're killed it will be all out chaos. Every vampire coven out there will fight for the crown. Countless humans will die."

"Blah, blah, blah. It's the same story every time someone shows up here," Brandon said in a highly bored tone. "Since when did we become the fucking good guys? Mara's side is looking better and better."

I gave him a scathing look and he returned it. Yeah, we hadn't been getting along much. "When did she kill them?" Adam broke in, giving us both clear looks to cool it. I just rolled my eyes and dropped down onto the couch Chris had sat on.

"In a few days, some kind of masquerade ball, a lot of vampires were there. There's one other thing," Alice said, hesitating. We all gave her a look to continue, she sighed, "there's an Egyptian coven, Benjamin, he can control the elements. He fought with Mara when they tried to take control of the party. I didn't see how it ended, but I heard someone yell her name." My pack and I shared looks. I wasn't sure whether or not to be thrilled about the prospect of Mara's death. I knew deep down, Mara was too far gone to be saved, but that didn't mean I hadn't stopped loving her. I missed her. Mara was everything to me. And I'd lost her.

"Let's go, there's no point wasting time," Chris said standing.

"I'll get the others rounded up, Adam can you handle the plane tickets?" he nodded and I glanced at the Cullen's. We might need Alice's ability. "Are you coming with us, or not?"

"We'll join you, but we'll need to inform Carlisle of your movement. They will want to join you Bella."

"I don't care. Just stay out of my way."

The Cullen's met us at the airport, and we gave them clear instructions to stay out of the entire groups way. We tended to get a little carried away. Sadly enough, I got stuck next to Edward while we were on the plane.

Sometimes I think I had missed Edward. But with everything always about Mara, I never had time to think about him. Or the promise Mara made that I would re-join them. I found it hard to believe at the time, but for some strange reason, Edward still loved me. What a dumbass.

We were getting a hotel room when someone walked up to me at the bar. I was talking quietly with Carlisle about the way we worked, just so we didn't freak them out too much. My last altercation with them, and the time surrounding the incident, had been short. Minutes short. They'd stayed a way after that.

"Hey beautiful, can I buy you a drink?" the man asked, giving me a wide flirty smile. He was decent looking and I noticed my brothers glare at him. Yeah, some things never change.

"No," I said curtly, turning away from him.

"Don't play hard to get, a girl like you needs a man," I felt eyes narrow, as soon as he touched my arm.

"Big mistake," Chris said chuckling, and the Cullen's got very confused.

I turned to give the man a cold stare, "don't touch me."

"Is there another place you want me to touch you?" he asked, leaning forward. I threw my open palm forward so hard it broke his nose. I brought my fist up and into the bottom of his chin, as satisfied as I was when I heard the crunch in his mouth I resisted the urge to take another shot.

"Never fucking touch me," I said smirking as he turned and stumbled away from us.

"Bella, you can't just attack strangers because there hitting on you," Alice said in disbelief.

I quirked an eyebrow, "clearly you don't know me very well."

"Should've seen what Mara used to do to people who touched Bella," Adam said a little bitterly.

"What?" Jasper asked frowning.

"Think something along the lines of castration. Moving along," I said rolling my eyes, "we'll need to blend in, we'll have an issue with scents, but once Mara and the others show up, everyone will have bigger problems then us."

"I don't understand why were going to all the trouble of protecting the Volturi of all people. Jane and Alec will take care of her," Rosalie cut in.

"Jane and Alec?" I asked confused.

"They have the ability to cause pain and make you feel nothing," Carlisle explained to us, we shared looks.

"Yeah, they've got their own parlor tricks, we need to stay focused on getting Aro, Caius and Marcus out of there before everything blows up in our faces," Brandon said pointedly to the Cullen's, "we'll expect you to take care of that."

"Those people are dangerous, we should be handling them, not you," Edward insisted for the umpteenth time.

"We were trained by Mara, and we trained the others, we know what were doing," I said, annoyed that he continued to believe I was still a weak human after all this time. "We've been up against them half a dozen times and were still standing, you wouldn't last a minute in a fight against her. Stay out of it. And stay the fuck away from Mara, because the moment she realizes who you are, your dead meat."

"I can read minds Bella, I'm sure I can handle her."

"Your funeral," I said giving up. He was screwed if he went up against her, but he could be as stubborn as me sometimes.

"Our costumes will be here in an hour or so," Alice cut in, probably seeing some sort of argument in the nearby future.

"Let's start getting ready," I said sighing and standing up.

The room was full of vampires, and even a few humans. Dinner would be my best guess. Everyone was dancing, and the music was rather seductive if you ask me. "Fan out, keep an eye open, Mara's bound to be here somewhere," Chris instructed and everyone nodded.

I knew Mara was here, I could feel her. She was close by too, I'd felt her the moment we'd gotten into the castle. She could feel me too, but why couldn't the pack feel her? Was she no longer pack? That seemed unlikely, she made us.

I walked down the steps and towards the bar. But before I got there, a cool touch had reached out for me. The touch sent a shock through me and I spun towards them and my eyes met the darkest sapphire blue eyes I'd ever seen. I'd know this person anywhere, it was Mara.

She gave me a Cheshire smile as soon as I tried to pull away, both excited and terrified, and only gripped my hand tightened. She pulled, and I crashed into her body. Her scent hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt my face flush and my stomach grow heated. God how I'd missed her.

She looked good, who was I kidding, she looked fucking amazing. Her red hair was curled into bouncy ringlets and then clipped up loosely, some strands of hair falling around her face. She wore a silver and black mask, little sparkles splashed across it, covering just the perfect amount of her face to make her almost unrecognizable. She wore a floor length black dress that hugged her body and then flared out at her waist. Her skin was as pale as the moon and she looked so god damn hot that I was almost tempted to throw our mission out the window and drag her out of the room. She was the definition of temptation.

"You look quite beautiful tonight Isabella," she practically purred, and if that wasn't startling, when she pulled me onto the dance floor it was. Why wasn't she killing me? Wasn't that her main goal, well aside from destroying the world.

"You too," I breathed, stomach bursting with endless butterflies as she guided us through the dance steps with more grace then I could've mastered by whole life. I felt a few people glance at us, as we danced and it wasn't long before those who knew who I was, knew who my dance partner was. But it seemed like everyone was kind of confused, I couldn't blame them, I was. What were we supposed to do in a situation like this? I decided to go with the flow. At least until someone else did something.

"I'm glad to see your still standing strong, I'm quite proud of your resilience," she whispered smoothly in my ear. I could imagine about half the room could hear my heart pounding and every word we said to each other. She knew this too. She was probably enjoying this. Cause I sure as hell was.

I wasn't sure what to say and she just smirked deviously, and spun me again. This time when she pulled me back into her arms, she had hers wrapped around me, and my back pressed her chest. I could feel her cool breath down my neck and it sent chills through me. "I want you Bella," she said, her lips ghosting over my neck. I suppose I should've realized how crappy my position was. It would take less then a simple movement for her to snap my neck and kill me.

"You have me now," I finally managed, and then I just couldn't help the moan that escaped as soon as her lips pressed against the pulsing vein in my neck. It wasn't even that. It was how familiar it felt, how much I had ached for something like this. it was a huge tease and we both knew it. But it was happening and at the moment that was all I cared about. She turned me in her arms, her eyes burning into mine seeing right into me like no one else ever could.

"Do I have you?" she asked, voice deepening a like it used when she wanted me. I almost moaned again. "It would be fast Bella. Quick and painless, just for you babe. Always for you, everything would be for you. It would be me and you, just like before."

It was tempting, and I almost said yes just because she'd said, 'me and you, just like before'. But then it clicked in, "I'm not ready to die, and I don't want to be what you are," it sounded kind of strained now. Would she take me anyways?

She smiled at me, it was dark and mischievous and full of secrets. It was a smile only Mara had. "You could never be what I am," she said, voice laced with secrets, secrets I used to know.

"Come home," I whispered, as I wrapped my arms around her, laying my head on her shoulder. She didn't stop moving with me, but she kept me in her arms and I was enveloped with love. I wanted Mara. I needed Mara. Desperately, and so badly that it hurt to breathe without her.

"I don't have a home anymore," she said, and her voice sounded so off that I couldn't help but look up at her. She had a strange look in her eyes and then I saw it. It was Mara, my Mara, the Mara loved. She wasn't really dead. This was the girl I had been waiting for what seemed like years. This was all I had needed. This was my sign, the one I'd been waiting on.

"Your home is wherever I am," I said honestly and it was true. Home for us, meant each other. I knew that she would come home with me, if I just had enough time to show her where she truly belonged. I just needed a few more seconds of this. She held my gaze, and we completely froze just gazing at one another. I felt her hands slide up to my face, skimming her thumb under the right side of the mask just barely.

"You should never wear a mask around me, I'll always see who you are," she said, lifting it up and off of me gently. It fell to the floor and she closed the distance between us as soon as she got a look at my now unmasked face. Her eyes held nothing but love and longing, I'm sure mine reflected the same and more.

It felt so good to hold Mara's hand and dance with her and for a few minutes I got lost in it. It felt like coming home. Like finally being able to breath again. It felt like Mara was mine, just like she was supposed to be. Then it all came crashing down and her lips hadn't even met mine yet.


	27. Lie To Me?

_When your soul finds the soul it was waiting for_

_When someone walks into your heart through an open door_

_When your hand finds the hand it was meant to hold_

_Don't let go_

_Someone comes into your world_

_Suddenly your world has changed forever_

**-xxxxx-**

"Isabella Swan," someone hissed, and I turned to see Aro, Jane and Felix pushing through the crowd towards us. It wasn't there rage that threw me off, it was Mara's. She was pissed, about being interrupted, I was pretty sure, but not a hundred percent sure. Either way, it was as much of a turn on as the last fifteen minutes had been.

The music came screeching to a halt and everyone in the room had turned to stare at us. Mara never took her eyes off of the target she had sought out for tonight though. She looked lethal. Even in the dress, that was pretty hot too I thought absently. She'd angled herself in front of me slightly, reminding me all the more of the Mara I used to know.

"How do you know Bella?" Mara asked, voice dropping to ice and I felt goose bumps rise on my flesh. She was getting territorial and if that wasn't my greatest turn on, I wasn't sure what was.

"Bella's engaged to Carlisle Cullen's son. She was supposed to have been turned, and yet here she is," Aro said darkly. I tensed instantly, having more or less forgotten about that.

Mara didn't like my reaction or his words much. "Yes, here she is, having a private moment with me and quite frankly your interrupting. Why don't you sparkle away and we'll call it even for the night?" she asked, a dark look flooding her eyes. She was goading him and he would take the bait, she made people want to piss her off just so she could show them how bad an idea it was to fuck with her. It was a paradox in itself, yet I'd seen it hundreds of times.

"Who are you to talk to me in such a manner?" he asked, eyes blackening.

"Who am I? Aro, I'm the one that ventured all this way to kill you," she said grinning widely now. The room erupted in growls and I felt my stomach churn. This was about to get very messy and I was right in the middle of it. Just my luck.

Aro laughed, and you'd think that would bother Mara, but that only amused her further. Oh he was so screwed. "Your human."

"Call me what you want, I'm still going to kill you, I just hate to disappoint my brother," she said shrugging almost as if she was a little embarrassed about it.

"Take the girl to my quarters," Aro instructed and before I could even throw up a shield Mara had moved another step in front of me protectively. Now that surprised me, and everyone else in the room too by the looks of it. Everyone from her friends to mine.

"I'm sorry, but the girl has a name and she isn't going anywhere near your 'quarters'. Can't have you turn her into a blood sucker and ruin my future plans, now can I?" not what I'd hoped she'd say, but honestly I was still surprised she was defending me at all so I remained quiet and just searched the room for my brothers and the rest of our team. Each of them were watching silently, waiting to pounce as soon as the fight broke it. It would, soon too, Mara would make sure of that. She just loved a good fight, and now she had a room full of pissed off vampires to help her out with her black hearts little desires.

"Jane?" Aro said next and Jane grinned as if she had been given a gold star. I cringed a little, and when nothing happened Mara yawned. Then people looked shocked and kind of worried, though I saw that coming a mile away. If I couldn't be harmed with Jane's little mental ability, then Mara sure as hell wouldn't be touched by it.

"Boring, want to see an even better trick?" she asked, smirking and then she lifted her arms up slightly, and then as if she were holding an invisible ball and spark of blue flame burst into existence. Almost all of the vampires in the room looked scared and a few of them grimaced or stepped back, I couldn't help it, I chuckled. Then it shot forward, and straight into Jane's face throwing her back across the room. Several people gasped and Aro roared, "kill them!"

About a dozen vampires surged forward and someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me backwards when a vampire went flying in my direction. I turned to Chris's furious expression, and grimaced when I realized I'd forgotten that they'd seen that entire scene between Mara and I. God, I'd have some explaining to do later.

But nothing could touch Mara. She was just moving so quickly, faster then I'd ever seen her move before. Then there was the fact that she left blue and somewhat dark blue flames in her wake, it just seemed to fall off of her like a second skin. It was amazing watching her, and for a long time all we could do was just watch. I'd never seen her do anything like this before. It was like she was dancing with them and she was slowly getting closer to where Aro and the other leaders now stood.

"Wow," was all I said, and then in the corner of my eye a saw a young dark skinned vampire take a step forward. He looked apprehensive and I suddenly got a bad feeling.

"Benjamin no," someone called after him and he surged forward and then water appeared, and then flew straight at Mara. I almost called out her name, but she must've felt him or the water somehow because she spun and then fire burst from her hands and met the water about three feet from her. Mara didn't like that someone seemed to almost challenge her power. She loved knowing she was unbeatable. This vampire was screwed, I guess he was the one Alice had spoken about.

I watched her face contort angrily and then fire exploded on her, as if every piece of her had burst into flames and not a single person dared to move towards her. "Oh Jesus, we need to get out of here, if Mara goes supernova were all toast," I heard someone shout at me, I hadn't realized how high the temperature in the room had gotten. But it was steadily rising as Mara's fire grew.

Then she changed again, her fire darkened and got bigger, if that were possible. Slowly it turned an electrified blue till it was as dark as the sea, and then grew darker till all I could compare it with were her eyes. But Benjamin was surprisingly strong, and he wasn't backing down, especially considered backing down meant dying for him. Maybe a scratch for her and even still It was impossible to look away. Mara had always been amazing to watch during fights, she was flawless, but this was on a whole other level. She looked like a beautiful dark witch or something.

I'd been frozen in place until I saw Alice raise a gun and aim at her. I panicked. "Mara!" I called in warning and as soon as the shot ripped through the air I had thrown my arms out and my own mental abilities snapped like an elastic band and sent her flying through the air.

The fire disappeared and then the whole room erupted into chaos again. Everyone seemed to be rushing for Mara and I. Mara had eyes for Aro and I kept trying to hide, because everyone was shooting at everyone. There wasn't much reason to it, and it wasn't long before I realized they were the dead psychic kids dressed up and aiming straight at us. Oddly enough, I had thought Mara was the only one coming, at least that was the impression Alice made on us. The dead psychic kids had been well disguised though, and they saw as much as the rest of the pack had. I momentarily wondered what they thought of our little display.

My brothers and I tried to defend ourselves as best we could, but it wasn't easy up against three times as many vampires and the psychic kids. Then there was another explosion, and all of the entrances blew and caved in, trapping every person in here. A surge swept through the room, snapping like electricity and I followed the surge to another dead psychic kids with his arm pressed over an outlet. Then the power went out and drenched the entire room in darkness. It made everything had to see, but I could still see outlines and shapes.

"Time to go," Adam called out to me, from somewhere to my right, sounding as breathless as I felt and I nodded and threw my arms forward. We couldn't stop Mara like this, there were too many people after us and we needed to get out of here before we got more hurt then we already were.

The roof of the castle burst into chunks of stone and I jumped out of the way when a huge stone almost crashed down over me. I watched the majority of vampires jump through the huge whole now in the ceiling and most of the psychic kids along with my brothers were finding their way up and out. I didn't get that far, as soon as I got to a stand on a table something cold and hard collided with my back and sent me flying through a file of stones and into a hallway. Well we managed to make another exit. It was Aro that had tackled me, and Jane and Alec were close behind.

I scrambled away, and turned to run when Alec appeared in front of me. I struck out, hitting him hard and then I flipped and kicked, sending him flying backwards. Someone grabbed me by the back of the head and before I could even think to defend myself they had smashed my face into the stone wall. I'd thrown up a shield on instinct and fear, but that hadn't hurt any less. Have you ever slammed your head into your own made up safety wall thing? That shit hurts.

I hit the ground, vision blurring and doubling at the same time. "Change her," someone ordered, and through the haze another vampire loomed over me. But all I could see were there blood red eyes. I couldn't seem to get a grip on my body anymore, I was still reeling from the shocks that had exploded across my body after hitting my head.

They leaned in and then to my utter surprise Mara appeared, grabbing him by the back of the collar and he went flying backwards and into someone else. She gave me a clear look to stay put and I just let out a pained breath in response. My entire head was throbbing and felt much bigger then it should.

I watched blurs of movement and flames go flying through the room as Mara took on Aro's best fighters and wiped the floor with them. I didn't get all of it, considering I kept losing sight of everything, but the volturi barely got hands on her and when they did it was for a very short while. I'd failed to stop her from killing Aro and I didn't even think to try. Aro wanted me changed and I was happy to see him go.

Eventually my mind registered this acrid bleach like smell spread through the air and she leaned over me frowning. "Man you suck," she said amused, and then pushed the hair from my face.

"Fuck you," I gasped out, and then moaned as another wave of pain washed over me, blinding me all over again.

She chuckled, and then lifted me into her arms effortlessly and I wrapped my arm around her as she carried me out. I noticed the flames over my shoulder and just rolled my eyes, which also was a bad idea, considering it sent a spark of pain behind my eyes. Of course she would set the building on fire in her wake.

"Where are we going?" I asked her quietly, unsure if I should be scared of going anywhere with her.

"My place," she said as if it were supposed to be obvious, and then set me down on the backseat of her a car that looked suspiciously stolen. I was out cold before she'd even gotten into the drivers seat.

**-xxxxx-**

_When you're one with the one you were meant to be find_

_Everything falls in place, all the stars align_

_When you're touched by the cloud that has touched your soul_

_Don't let go_

_Someone comes into your life_

_It's like they've been in your life forever_

**-xxxxx-**

I rubbed my head, it was throbbing like crazy. What had I done last night? I opened my eyes and they watered as the non existent light in the room somehow managed to send shocks through the backs of my eyes. I rubbed at them irritably and then blinked, getting a better look around the room. I'd slept surprisingly well last night and I couldn't quite place why. I hadn't slept properly in months.

Someone stirred next to me and I spun, nearly falling out of the bed as I realized someone else was in the bed. Then I realized who it was. It was Mara. Was I hallucinating? Where was I? I looked around, heart racing in confusion. How had I gotten here?

"Relax, I didn't kidnap you," Mara mumbled tiredly next to me, not looking up or even opening her eyes to look at me. What? She answered my thoughts as if I'd voiced them or as if she'd read my mind. It was a possibility too. "Bella, I know you like I know myself. I knew you'd freak as soon as you woke up." Finally she looked at me and I swear I almost flinched when I saw her glowing blue orbs staring back at me. She saw the look and hurt flashed in her eyes, disappearing as quickly as it came. But I'd still seen it.

"I-why did you bring me here?" I ground out through clenched teeth. What if she had killed me and I had no idea? Do you feel something like that? I'd been totally out last night, I could be dead right now and not now. Shit, now I was freaking out.

"Why indeed, the whole house is in turmoil over your presence. Come on, I'm sure your hungry and I hear bacon." _Hear_ bacon? I stared at her weirdly again. "Senses are in overdrive when you die, you get used to it after a while, it all took some adjusting for everyone. They've been getting stronger and stronger too." She had a guilty look in her eyes now and I almost felt bad for even wondering why she heard bacon of all things. Her words tossed around in my mind, and when I came to the conclusion I had the same senses I relaxed. I wasn't dead.

"Mara, I don't understand what's happening. You tried to kill me just months ago and you put me in a coma for five weeks. You've set out to end the world or something and now you save my life. I want answers, because I'm seriously confused," she had that look on her face. The one I hated. It was the greatest poker face I'd ever seen and I couldn't read a single thing other then the fact that whatever was going through her head, she didn't want me to know_. Fan-freaking-tastic._

"It is what it is," was all she said, shrugging once and then lifting herself out of the bed. She wore nothing but a tank top and underwear and by god did she look good enough to eat. She always kind of had, but now I just wanted to pull her down to me and spend the next little while getting lost in the things only she could make me feel. The idea made butterflies spark in my stomach and my gut twisted excitedly, even my skin seemed to be buzzing at the prospect.

But I couldn't do that. As much as my entire being wanted nothing more then to get lost in Mara like I used too, it just wasn't an option. I needed answers and I still had no fucking idea where I was. I could be in Africa for all I knew. Just to be sure I glanced outside. I saw dozens of tree tops, so I relaxed a little. I went back to looking at her, whatever question I'd been about to ask dying before I'd even opened my mouth to speak.

She turned to me, and tossed a pill bottle at me. I barely managed to catch it I was so lost in staring at her. That happened a lot. This all felt so weird, like a dream. A weird abstract dream of the ones I usually had with Mara and that was all it took to convince me this was real. Mara always came with a balance of the good and the bad.

"I'm sure your head hurts," was all she said, leaving the room and I heard her run a tap before returning with a glass of water. I took it gratefully and then took two of the Percocet. I didn't bother asking how she'd gotten them. Mara could get anything she wanted, drugs weren't an issue. Especially when you had no boundaries on what you would and wouldn't do.

I slipped out of the bed and noted that I was in nothing but my bra and panties. She must've taken the slip and everything else off after we got here. Honestly, I was surprised she'd left the bra on at all. She pointed at a door and I quirked an eyebrow, going towards it and finding a walk in closet. "Mara, are we still in Italy?" I blurted out, having gotten impatient with waiting for her to shed some light on what the hell was going on.

"Of course we are," she said amused, "and you should probably call your brothers, you've gotten about two dozen phones calls since we got here."

"Shit," I said, pulling on a tank top and shorts, and I mentally noted the way she said 'your brothers', as if she wasn't family anymore. She would always be family, even if we all resented or hated her. Though she didn't seem to think so.

She answered my next question before I'd even finished thinking it, "you were asleep about ten hours. I tried to wake you, but you mumbled something about teddy gram crackers and fell back asleep."

Of course I did, I thought blushing a little, and then left her closet to find her waiting patiently looking out the window of her room with her back to me. I had a flash of the day she'd told me to sleep elsewhere and my heart ached a little. She glanced at me, as if sensing it and gave me a small smile.

"You said other people were here," I said, unsure of whether or not I wanted to leave the room anymore.

"Of course we all live together," she pushed away from the window frame, and guided me out of the room. I kept close to her, much to her amusement and as soon as we hit the bottom of the steps something barreled into me. I tensed and almost slugged her until I realized who was hugging me. Danielle.

"I missed you so much!" Danielle said squealing in delight and I stared at her in disbelief, heart pounding. Hunter stood with his arms crossed in the doorway looking just as amused as Mara.

I stayed tense in her arms and then disentangled myself from her. She pouted a little, and then gave me a wide smile, "I'm so glad Mara finally brought you home, she's been missing you forever."

"I'm sure," I commented dryly, and Mara chuckled under her breath and I shifted uncomfortably. I was still waiting for the punch line, a punch line that never came. It was kind of exasperating and I felt really edgy.

"Marcus is going to kick your ass when he finds out about Bella," a girl I recognized as Lori said, coming down the stairs. She bumped me and I glared at her from behind.

"Bella meet Lori, bitch of the house, and as you can see she isn't too pleased about being at the bottom of the food chain," Mara said rolling her eyes at the girl.

"Big talk Mara, especially with your biggest weakness in a house full of people itching to but a bullet in her chest," I tensed and Mara looked utterly calm.

"Try it Lori, I'd love to replace you," she said in response and I frowned a little. Now I wanted to get the hell out of here, but I still needed answers.

Danielle gave me a sympathetic look and if it weren't for the ruthless almost hungry look in her eyes I would've thought that she was the same Danielle I'd met all those months ago. But no, she had the same look in her eyes the rest of the dead psychic kids did, Mara included. My god, how the hell was I going to get out of here? Would Mara just let me leave? Even if she did, would the rest of them? I knew Mara was in charge of them, to some extent, but who were they sired to, Mara or Marcus?

"Ignore her, she's a bitch on a good day," Hunter said in unimpressed tone.

"I heard that!" Lori shouted from some room she'd gone into.

"And your point is?" Hunter retorted, not needing to raise his voice. I heard Lori mutter something angrily, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense so I ignored her.

"Oh no, breakfast," Danielle shouted wide eyed and flew past me and down the same hall Lori had gone into.

Mara eyed me for a moment and then deciding something she just moved past me and when I stood still, she glanced back at me. "You coming?" I frowned even more, the door was right there, I could just run right out now that Mara wasn't in front of it. My gaze flickered from her to the door and I sighed, giving into my own personal need to be close to her.

"Yeah," I said turning and following behind her.

As soon as we got into the kitchen I jumped out of the way when a boy came flying at me. Danielle was swearing at him heatedly, "I told you to stay out of my kitchen!"

"Well I'm hungry," the boy whined, who looked like a rougher version of Jonathon, the boy who I'm also told had taken part in killing Mara. I couldn't believe she hadn't killed him yet. Mara didn't even bat an eyelash, so I assumed it was a regular occurrence for all of them to be at each other's throats.

"And I told you to wait! I swear to god if you touch my cooking one more time I will kick your ass," Danielle threatened, looking more lethal then I'd ever seen out of her.

"Coffee?" Mara asked me, ignoring the arguing pair as she moved across the kitchen to the coffee pot. I just nodded, and sat down at the breakfast bar silently. Danielle returned to the stove, satisfied now that Jonathon was out of her special area.

"Why didn't you kill Jonathon and Lori?" I asked Mara when she said down across from me.

"They have their uses," she said shrugging.

Danielle glanced over, a grin in place, "she almost killed them. Lori was driving and Jonathon was in the front seat, we were in the back. We were on our way back from checking out the house you burnt down. When Lori insulted Mara she punched her in the face and we jumped out of the car before it crashed."

I felt my eyes widen and I looked away from Mara, I'd forgotten I'd burnt down her house. "Mara, whose sired to you?" I asked, breaking the silence. I noticed Danielle tense, but say nothing in response. Mara just looked thoughtful now.

"When Marcus isn't around, they've been ordered to obey me. But Danielle and Hunter are mine," she said carefully, and her gaze flickered to Danielle. "There have been issues about that."

"What do you mean?" I asked frowning.

"The others aren't pleased with my having them because Marcus is so harsh on his, they're so uncontrollable and wild most of the time. Danielle and Hunter were trained before they died. We appear to have strong self control then the others, though we do have our moments," she explained, giving Danielle a pointed look, which she pretended to ignore. I wondered what happened for a moment.

"And what's his plan for the rest of us?" I asked unsure if I was stepping over some kind of line. She just smiled mischievously and I looked up at the ceiling for a moment. She knew what Marcus's plan was, but she clearly wasn't about to share it. Go figure.

She got a strange look on her face as we sat there quietly. As though she were debating something in great depth. Once or twice it looked like whatever was going through her mind she was fighting against. I could almost see her resolve snap and crumble as she came to some kind of decision.

"Come on, I want to show you something," Mara said standing up.

"What about breakfast?" Danielle asked pouting a little.

"We'll be back," Mara said, taking my hand and guiding me out into the hallway again. She led me into a library, by the looks of it and she closed the door behind us.

I glanced at the paintings around the room, surprising to find that they were done by her. I'd never seen her paint before, most of them were of places we'd visited over the years. "How can I free you Mara?" I asked her quietly. She stilled for a heartbeat, having gone towards the couch and then sat down, expression blank.

"I don't believe there is a way to save me. At first I believed that killing Marcus would save all of us, but I was wrong. He's taken all kinds of hits since I've been here, things that should've killed him, would've killed any of the rest of us, and yet he's still here."

"How is he even one of us? I know he's your brother, but the angels didn't even know he was blooded like the rest of us. So how is that even possible?" I asked, all of us having wondered that since she'd died. I sat down next to her, watching her take a long drink from her cup of coffee. It looked so normal that it made my chest ache with longing. I wished everything could just return to the way it had been before. I missed Mara so badly. Even now with her sitting just inches from me.

"I wish I knew. Marcus tells me what he wants to," she said honestly, shrugging slightly as if there was nothing she could do. I didn't like this complacent side of her, she never gave way to anyone else and it made me want to tear into Marcus and watch him bleed out just for forcing her into this. I hated him.

She met my gaze, raising her hand and I flinched instinctively. I was so used to Mara being ruthless, even towards me that I was set to defensive around her now. Hurt flashed in her eyes, but she just continued moving her hand to me, pushing the hair from my face and over my shoulder. She leaned forward, holding my gaze, and in a hushed voice she said, "you shouldn't be afraid of me Bella, your the last person I'd ever want to fear me."

"It's your fault I'm afraid of you," I said, swallowing thickly, as her fingers ghosted down along the side of my face and under my right eye. I could barely feel her touch, and it was cool, like it had been last night. Ironic, that her cool light touch managed to set my own skin on fire.

"I'll guess I'll just have to fix that than, wont I?" she asked, eyes on my lips. I felt my heart start to pound with excited anticipation and she paused just an inch away, waiting for something. Waiting on me? But I got impatient right away, and leaned forward, closing the distance and pressing my lips to hers lightly. It was like the first time we'd kissed all over again. That feather light hesitance, just barely enough to even call it kiss.

But unlike the first time, she didn't pull back, instead she returned the kiss hard and demanding. She brought her hands through my hair and pulling me closer to her. Both of the coffee cups clattering to the ground and shattered thought that didn't slow us down. Instead I just lifted myself up, and then planted myself on her lap without breaking the kiss. I moaned at the feeling of having her body against mine after so long. I just couldn't get enough of her. It was like coming alive all over again, life snapping back into place and making sense after being thrust into a world that you no longer understood. But everything made sense when I had Mara and after what felt like years, I'd finally gotten her back.

It would always be Mara. I would never be the same after being with her. She was everything to me and she always would be. I knew who i was when i was with her, even if she could never seem to figure out what she wanted.

She pulled back a little, and i felt my body protest at the loss of her lips and she smiled at me, a smile that would always be Mara's alone. A smile of dark secrets, dangerous promises and endless unconditional love. It was the smile i'd fallen in love with the first time i'd seen it. "I love you Bella, i always will, i want you to remember that."

I just smiled in return, "I'll never stop loving you either, no matter where we are, who were with or what either of us have done. Mara, lie to me? Tell me this will be all be over soon because I dont know how long I can keep doing this. I want you to come home."

She gave me a sad smile, "i dont need to lie to tell you that. Yes Bella, it will be over soon, I'll make everything okay, I promise."

_So now we've found our way to find each other_

_So now I found my way, to you_

_No there's no one else's eyes_

_That could see into me_

_No there's no one else's eyes_

_That could see into me_

_No one else's arms can lift_

_Lift me up so high_

_Your love lifts me out of time_

_And you know my heart by heart_


	28. Too Good To Be True

_Wake up in the middle of ascending in the night,_

_With some tears on my pillow and this blood on my knife,_

_And my soul has stained the sheets but they're pulled off to the side,_

_Who's blood could this be, is it yours or is it mine,_

_Take the knife and twist it. Where's my heart you missed it,_

_You know I don't wanna die but baby you insist it,_

_Breathing is a luxury that I just shouldn't have,_

_My heart just keeps on beating and it's more than you can stand,_

_Baby, please just tell me how we ever went so wrong,_

_We use to sing together when we used to sing a song,_

_We can never sing forever, cause now my voice is gone,_

_Guess I'm gone forever and you knew it all along._

**Bella POV**

Mara gave me her car to take home, and for the longest time I couldn't stop smiling. Everything was great. Everything would finally get better. She's said it herself, this was all going to be over soon, because it was her that said I was all the more thrilled. I should've known this was all too good to be true. I found out just how bad everything was almost as soon as I got through the door.

"Where have you been?" Chris all but shouted as soon as I walked through the door and into the living room. Everyone appeared to be here, i should've called at least and i suddenly felt guilty, until i remembered where i'd been.

I just grinned all over again, "with Mara."

Everyone stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Um, what?" Luke asked clearly as confused as everyone else. "She kidnapped you? I dont know about you, but if Mara grabbed me i dont think i'd be as enthusiastic as you seem to be."

"Well while all of you were busy taking off, Aro grabbed me and Mara showed up. She killed them, obviously and then she brought me back to her place. She's not evil guys, she's still Mara," I said, the words just spilling out like a tidal wave.

"Bella have you hit your head so hard that you've forgotten the last six months? She put you in a coma! She's tried to kill all of us on numerous occasions," Adam said giving me a worried look.

"Why do you think she's still Mara?" Michelle asked, eyes narrowed as if she were trying to understand my logic.

"Because she was the same girl I fell in love with all those years ago," I said honestly, this time not smiling and saying it simply. It was the truth and Mara was still Mara, no matter how strangely everyone in the room stared at me i would know, i would always know. As much as my subconscious seemed to know. Mara still loved me and she always would, regardless of whose side she's on.

"I believe her," a voice said quietly, and we all glanced at Patrick. He was normally quiet and he just looked tired and sad, and guilty, he looked really guilty.

"Why would she have such a change of heart after all this time, why now?" Brandon asked, clearly unsure of what to think or how to feel. Everyone looked to me, but that thought hadn't really occurred to me much over the last little while. I'd just been so in awe of finally having her back that I hadn't let my fears ruin it.

Patrick answered before me and his words caused a silence that was so thick it was like a god had descended on the room. "Because she was saying good bye."

**Mara POV**

**Three hours before the Volturi ball**

I was sitting at the bar with Danielle and Hunter when someone tapped my shoulder. We'd spent the day preparing to crash the vampire king's little ball and I was thrilled about the whole thing. Quite frankly I enjoyed terrifying the supernatural community far more then the human world because they reacted so much differently, and each reaction varied. Usually getting us a good fight or two.

Both Hunter's and Danielle's eyes shot over my shoulder and widened and I glanced up, standing as soon as I realized it was an angel and the Winchesters, "I knew I smelt something disgusting," I said to the angel. He looked taken aback with my insult and gave me a dark look.

"We need to talk," Sam said in a clipped tense tone, he clearly didn't want to be here.

"That's too bad, I'm not feeling too chatty today, try me on a day that doesn't end in 'y'," I said coldly grabbing Danielle's hand and moving to push through them.

"We know how to kill Marcus," Dean said quickly, making me freeze in my retreat.

I turned to him sharply, eyes narrowed. "Is this some sort of trick, because if it is, I will shove my hand through your brothers chest and rip out his heart. I don't like being fucked with."

They all gave me dark angry looks and Dean bit out, "do you want our help or not?"

"I don't think we should trust them," Danielle mumbled to me, Hunter just nodded his agreement. Keeping close to Danielle. I got the feeling they'd been hooking up, but that wasn't my business, at least no really anyways.

"I don't think so either, but I am curious as to what their idea is," I said, not bothering to speak in a hushed tone like she was. Maybe she was afraid of the hunters, probably because they'd killed our kind before but I couldn't care less about them. They were people from my past, or at least, they part of the past I was trying desperately to stop caring about. I was almost there too.

"Can we speak privately?" Dean asked, glancing around the room.

"No, I don't trust you, we'll take a seat in the far back booth," I said, turning and guiding all of us into the back of the main area. I gave the group of young adults a lethal stare, letting my eyes flare with blue flames a little, "find somewhere else to sit." They left instantly.

I took the corner, wanting Danielle to get out of here before if something went down. "Maybe it's best if two of your Charge's wasn't here for this discussion," the angel said, giving me a look that was supposed to be convincing. That was a new term for it. Charge. It seemed to fit in a weird abstract kind of way.

"No, as you said, there both my Charge and they stay with me," I said bluntly. The angel frowned.

"Marcus was never supposed to be blooded, you were. But apparently ever at birth you had a stronger connection then most twins. He may not have been blooded, but your connection made him supernatural at a lesser level then you. When Azazel took him in, he realized the potential a set of twins like you posed. Your recent consumption of the demon blood has made you two a mirror image of one another," the angel said, in a grave dramatic tone.

"A mirror image?" I said finally, skeptical. "I don't know what the fuck that means. Gonna need more."

"The reason he has so much control and power is because the stronger you get, the stronger he gets. Your connection, because of the demon blood has grown ten fold, which is exactly what Azazel and your brother wanted, you were never supposed to know," Sam said, almost enthusiastically and yet still wary. "I thought it was strange that he was able to take a bullet to the head, so I started looking into it. It's because you weren't very badly hurt at the time. He can draw power from you.

"For the longest time I came up with nothing, until I came across a story about two male boys, twins. One lived alone and was at home when we died, and he lived a normal life. His brother, was a gambler and one night at a bar just a few minutes after midnight, he was shot in the throat. When police went to inform his closest relative, his twin, they found him dead in bed with a hole in his throat. There was no evidence of a break and no bullet found in the apartment. Yet coroners determined they'd died exactly the same way and at exactly the same time."

"That's your theory?" Hunter blurted out incredulously. "Your basically saying if she dies, Marcus will too."

"Not just Marcus and you, but everyone sired to Marcus, if you die Marcus dies and even if we somehow managed to save you after he died, you'd still died anyways because of your connection."

"Danielle and Hunter would die in turn as well," I said frowning, glancing at the tense, scared pair. I was debating it.

A plan was forming in my mind. A decent plan. But a plan enough. I could save them by transferring their bond to someone else. Someone like Bella. What I'd always wanted. Someone to protect her, not die protecting her, but still fight just as hard as I would. If they were sired to her, she would be cared for forever, because they would want to protect her. Aside from dying, this would all work out the way I'd wanted.

But what to do about the remaining still living psychic children. Do I kill them too? They were still vulnerable for their first death. I could transfer them to Bella as well. But could she handle that much pressure? It was like having a personal guard, but she's never been a leader of such a larger group of people. Fuck it. It's Bella, that girl can handle anything. I would give her something else to care for, a new family that they'd all be devoted to on the purest and yet demonic level.

"Mara?" Dean asked, everyone having watched the display of emotions as my plan had been born. Who'd a thought that I, Mara fucking Petrelli would die saving the world? I was doing it for Bella, but the world would be saved from my brother anyways.

"I'll do it," I said evenly, "on one condition."

Danielle and Hunter shared horrified looks, the Winchesters shared disbelieving looks, as if they hadn't thought I'd agree to this so easily. But they didn't want know what I wanted or what I thought and this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. The time had finally come to end this.

"What do you want?" the angel asked, having leaned back in thought. I hadn't seen such a thoughtful look on an angel, it was kind of unnerving.

"The people I choose to live through this remain unharmed and under your protection. If the day comes when someone goes up against them, you protect them," I said, not leaving much room for argument.

"Who do you mean?" Sam asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Bella and the pack, and everyone that will be sired to Bella," everyone looked confused.

"What do you mean, no one is sired to Bella," Dean said, glancing at Hunter and Danielle, knowing I meant them already.

"The remaining psychic children living are a liability left alive. I'll end them myself and transfer them, along with Hunter and Danielle to Bella. She'll keep them in line, they wont be like the rest of us, and if they do turn out bad, you can take care of the issue after you take it up with her, agreed?"

_I'm only evil when I need to be, but you did this so easily,_

_I try to treat you equally and listen to your reasoning,_

_But you waited so eagerly while plotting and deceiving me,_

_You came behind me secretly and shattered every piece of me,_

_I have nothing to give, so I gave you my life!_

_Didn't want to see me live, so you gave me your knife,_

_Didn't hear you as you tiptoed coming from behind,_

_You took away my kids, so I guess you killed me twice,_

_Drag me into the night, cause it's the one thing you keep,_

_You knew that I had to die, so you could finally sleep,_

_This blood all over your knife, you know you earned yourself,_

_And it's a matter of time until you burn in hell._


	29. A Walk Down Memory Lane

Bella POV

I'd wanted to try going to school out here, I'd decided a few days after Mara had asked me to stay. After all I still had some kind of future to prepare for. Mara said she was coming with me instantly, we hadn't been separated further then being in different rooms in the house, for longer then an hour or so and I was a little relieved to have her with me. She didn't look too thrilled but we both needed to be in close range until we got a better grip on our more dangerous feelings for one another.

We had a very unusual friendship, one I couldn't seem to define. Everyone noticed too. The way we'd always know where the other was or what they were feeling. Or the way we'd always just touch without even realizing it, our hands and eyes lingering a moment longer then it should if we were just 'friends'. But neither of us ever commented on it. Our brothers didn't mind much either, because it all felt natural.

Then it started happening to everyone else. I hadn't picked up on it right away, none of us had. We were too close, too connected to each other and none of us understood why. Someone would go out alone, saying we'd be gone for the rest of the night, but sure enough, they'd come back a few hours later. We also acting weird towards one another. Like we all had this big secret, and we kind of did. We were territorial, if one of us was upset the rest of us would be. It was getting out of control, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was my fault. It was obvious they hadn't been like this before I'd gotten here, but we all felt like I was some kind of missing piece.

No one else in this house was going to school, but they encouraged me to do it. Finish high school and university. They got fake papers for me, I expected to wait a few months or something. But alas, the papers were waiting for me in the kitchen counter when I woke up the next morning. I was now Isabella Pruitt, taking Chris's last name.

It was a little weird being at a school after having been gone so long. That and not being around normal people, let alone normal teenagers. It was quickly apparent that I was very different then I used to be, and I loved it. Teachers, students and even the principals would glance at me, because I felt different to them and they couldn't figure out why. I wasn't trying to hide anymore and my more twisted side had flared to life like throwing gasoline onto a fire. Sure I toned it down to stay under the radar but it wasn't making much of a difference, especially when Mara was around, not all of our classes were together either. People were even more weary about Mara. She would never be able to hide her darkness, it just fell off of her in waves. Maybe she could if she tried, she was a good actor.

So yes, Phoenix felt like a life time ago. Felt like years, probably because so much had happened in the short time span since I'd ran from Phoenix. The school thing didn't really work out well.

I was more aggressive then I had been just months ago. I should've known better. I wasn't like them because of my lack of self control, let alone an average teenager. Sticking someone like me in a building for eight hours was a bad idea. We'd been in the school for about three weeks now and so far so good.

My history teacher was kind of getting on my nerves though, mostly because she hated when I didn't pay attention. I was completely enthralled with a book Tyler had showed me, it was called the Chrysalids by John Wyndham. It was about the world falling apart because of a huge nuclear war and there maybe a few thousand people left and they got the Nazi route to save humanity. That whole purifying the human race crap and because the world has been ravaged by nuclear bombs, babies don't always come out normal, and if your born with six toes your shit out of luck. It was fascinating, the things these guys read.

A ruler slammed down onto my desk with a huge slap and I jumped a foot in the air. "Have you lost you mind, you could've hit me!" I shouted glaring at Mrs. Carson.

She pointed at me with the ruler, "at the end of this ruler is an idiot."

"Which end?" the class burst into giggles and her face went bright red.

"Get out of my classroom," she snapped angrily. I just shrugged, grabbed my bag and left. Her fault for saying something so stupid.

I'd left my last class late at the end of the day and texted Mara that I'd meet her at the car once I was done at my locker. The halls were deserted by the time I'd gotten to my locker on the second floor. "Isabella?" I jumped, spinning and looking at the gym teacher.

"Yeah?" I asked a little uneasily, a strange feeling rising. Sort of a go get Mara feeling. Though I kind of always felt like that.

"Mind coming to my office a moment, I have something to talk about with you," he looked too serious to say no to.

"Sure," I pulled my bag over my shoulder, and putting the lock back on.

He led us down the hall, and through the wooden doors. They locked automatically all the time so it shouldn't surprise me it did now, but made me even more nervous. Then he unlocked the door to his office, stepping aside for me to walk through the doorway. I sat down on one of the wooden chairs.

"I wanted to talk to you about joining the basketball team, we could really use a girl like you," he said giving me a warm smile. His eyes were wrong. Mara always said to trust their eyes, because eyes can never lie, unless your Mara. But even in a second you could still a flicker of truth in them.

"Um, I don't think so. My family doesn't like me spending too much time away from home," it was true. They wouldn't want to sit around watching practice, and I doubt if Mara or anyone else could handle it if it looked like it was getting rough on the court.

"You could be great Isabella, fast, strong, so graceful," he said, eyes gleaming even more. Now he looked like a starved hyena. He moved towards me and I tensed, "you could be the star, and the star would receive some perks."

"I should go, I need to go," I said in a rush, standing up so quickly I knocked the chair over.

I turned to run for the door, when a strong grip grabbed my arm and pulled me back hard. I stumbled backwards, crashing into the desk before I regained my balance. My mind went completely blank in terror as he locked the door, trapping me. "I'll scream!"

"Go ahead, no one can hear you in here," he said in delight.

He moved towards me and my eyes skittered across the room and I remembered the blade in my back pocket. I lifted it out right as he descended on me and I struck out. He let out a pained gasp when my fist met his jaw, but didn't falter at all. I moved to stab at him and he jumped out of the way and then threw himself on me.

His weight sent me backwards and made my lower back ache painfully. I let out a surprised yelp when the desk suddenly disappeared from beneath me, sliding across the ground. He wrestled the knife away from me and when he couldn't pry it from my hands he back handed me. I felt my eyes water and cheek sting as dread settled in me once the knife vanished from my grasp.

It was thrown across the room and I began throwing punches blindly. My movements were too wide and sloppy from my terror. He had a look in his eyes again, a look I wanted to never see again. He hit me again and in the shock of the blow he'd flipped me and then his right hand went down into the front of my pants. He ripped my pants down a little and fingers entered me roughly. I felt something warm slide down my thigh and knew instantly it was blood.

My eyes watered even more and I let out a sob, using all the power I could to get away. But it was futile. This was all felt too real and that only made everything hurt more. Then he was gone and I scrambled away, tears streaming down my face. I stared at the person who'd come to my rescue, relieved and wide eyed. It was Mara, she had her back to me so I couldn't see her face but I was willing she was pissed.

She punched him with her right fist, and then kneed him in the gut. As he hunched over, she brought her fist down on his face, sending him onto the ground in a heap. He grabbed her by the ankle pulling hard and she toppled to the ground. She got up right after he did and as he rushed her, she grinned, revealing my blade and shoved it up into the bottom of his jaw. He froze, eyes widening, I could see the blood covered metal in his mouth. She pulled the knife out with a slicking sound and he dropped in slow motion.

I had to admit, seeing her ruthless destroy someone on my behalf was kind of a turn on, if it hadn't been for the horrible situation anyways.

She turned to me slowly, features showing nothing but a primal rage, more so then I'd ever seen in her eyes before. Then they softened and she dropped the blade and moving towards me. She helped me stand up and I pulled my pants up the rest of the way before throwing my arms around her. "Thank you," I said, voice breaking in the middle.

"Sorry I didn't let you kill him yourself," she said quietly, looking back at his lifeless body.

"It's okay," I whispered, a few more tears breaking free. I looked around the room a moment, an unfamiliar pain in my gut. My eyes landed on some bats standing up in the corner. I went towards it, picking up the heaviest and hardest one I could. I felt Mara's eyes on me, and when I glanced to her on my right, she said nothing. Her gaze and posture said it all though, she knew exactly what I was thinking and what I was going to do and she wasn't going to stop me. I moved towards the body, lifting the bat over my shoulder and then brought it back down.

There was a sickening crack and blood burst from his now split skull. I brought the bat down a second time, and a third and a fourth. I did it until every piece of him was crushed and broken. She wrapped her arms around me when I started to get carried away, tugging the bat from my hands and then dropping it with a loud clatter.

"Come on, let's go home," she said, draping her arm over my shoulder and I leaned into the embrace. Safety and relief washed through me under the touch and I swallowed thickly, squeezing my eyes shut and letting her guide us.

When we got back to the house we went straight upstairs. The guys must've known something had happened because all of them appeared when we got home. "What happened?" Adam asked as Mara gave me a worried look, and neither of us said a thing as we made for the bedroom.

We went into the bathroom, as she began running steaming hot water I smiled a little, as if she'd read my mind. But who wouldn't want to wash away what had just happened? She gestured for me to move towards her and I did so silently. Then it occurred to me. Did she only understand because this had happened to her before? I mean, she knew exactly what I wanted and what to do. Mara was understanding, about everything, but there has to be a reason right?

With gentle hands she lifted my shirt and bra off and then began sliding my jeans down. I blushed a little, knowing she'd probably see the blood smeared across the insides of my thighs. Her eyes darkened a little, realizing what that meant for me, and then just slipped off my underwear.

I wasn't embarrassed about being naked in front of her, I never had been, not even after we'd met. It felt natural, as if we'd known each other our entire lives. I watched her undress, fascinated as she revealed her creamy skin, reminding me so much of moonlight. God she was beautiful, like a Goddess of Night. "Like what you see?" she asked teasingly.

I blushed a little more, "who wouldn't?"

She intertwined our hands and then tugged us into the shower stall, letting the scalding water wash away the blood of my attacker and my own. She pulled her body close to mine, kissing the side of my left eye, "that will never happen again Bella, I'll make sure of that," she promised.

"I know," I said, chest bursting as I gave into my impulse and pressed my lips to her. It was gentle and light, unsure if she would pull back or not. She did, eyes widened in surprise, and I don't know why, it was long overdue. She met my gaze, for once there was an overwhelming emotion in her own and we stood their silently for a moment. She smiled, finally, and then lifted her hands through my hair and pulled me closer, give me a deeper kiss and making my entire body buzz and my heart soar.

**Mara POV**

We were all sitting in the back of the top floor of the bar, playing cards. But Bella had something else in mind. She strolled into the room, a determined look on her face and I shared looks with Chris and Tyler. Everyone had noticed her demeanor. She wasn't good at the poker face thing just yet, but she'd only been here about two months now. She was doing pretty well with the learning stuff, so I wasn't worried about her being on her own. She'd even taken to street racing pretty well.

"What's up B?" I asked, tossing in a five dollar bill as she walked around the table to me. She gave me a deep kiss, drawing the attention of every male in the room. People still weren't used to seeing me with someone for so long, let alone be so open about our relationship together.

"Came to talk to you," she said seriously, not sparing the rest of the table a glance.

I glanced at the others around us, even our brothers were frowning. If Bella was interrupting the game just to talk it was clearly important. But she didn't look freaked, just dead set on something. "Can you guys give us a minute?" I asked after a moment. Everyone gave me a scowl or just shrugged and stood up.

"Everything okay with you two?" David asked, standing and raising his eyebrows. He was the most vocal about our relationship outside of the pack. Well him, and Alex anyways.

"Just fine," Bella said, still not looking away from me.

They all left the room, the door clicking shut more audibly then it should. "Why does everyone seem to think I'm a phase?"

I stared at her in disbelief, "what? What are you talking about?"

"Are we together or not? Because I'm sick of not knowing whether or not you belong to me! Want to know what else I'm sick of? You getting jealous when you can't even make up your goddamn mind."

"Chris Bella, would you fucking drop it? Of course were together, we've been over this! what's this really about?" I asked eyes narrowed.

"I saw you with Ashton! Pretty friendly for someone you just fucking met," I quirked an eyebrow, a mixture of surprised and confused.

"Whose Ashton?"

"Seriously, now your going to lie to my face?" she was pissed.

"Bella, I really have no idea what your talking about," I really didn't. I didn't know any Ashton. At least if I had, I couldn't recall anyone by that name, I knew thousands of people. If they had no direct link to our family, they were basically nameless.

"Then why is everyone bringing up one name after another now? Ashton, the girl you got nice and friendly with twenty minutes ago!"

"The girl I just killed?" I blurted out, suddenly clueing into what she was talking about. Ash, I knew her name was Ash, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure what her full name was. She had managed to pick my wallet and had no idea who I was. Then she had the guts to flirt with me, so I'd led her on and then guided her into a less crowded area and finally out the back door. Her body was laying in the alley, her guts hanging out all over the ground.

"Oh yes, I'm sure she's dead Mara. Trying to save your new little girlfriend before I go after her? Your a fucking liar and a cheater," she spat, and then turned and walked away.

"Bella, wait your-," but she was already gone, having the slammed the door behind her. I had no idea this was what was about to happen when she'd walked into the room. One moment she's more or less fine, a little stressed, the next she's tearing me a new one. I turned and punched the wall, swearing heavily.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked, weary eyes finding my own pissed off ones.

"Bella thinks I fucking cheated on her. She's going off on me because we haven't labeled what we are yet," I said, the words spilling out grossly, I lifted a bottle of vodka, whipping it across the room and into the wall. It shattered, clear liquid spilling across the wall.

"That's what you guys have been arguing about lately?" Chris asked, eyebrows raised in slight worry and amusement. David and Alex were both just listening in curiously. I wasn't worried about them running to the press with our family drama. They were as close to family as outsiders could get. They had our trust, to an extent and I wasn't concerned about them betraying our loyalty. They were friends. Best friends even. If we had any that is.

"I don't understand what the fuck that girl wants from me! She knows she belongs to us now, what more confirmation does she need?" I blurted out utterly exasperated and frustrated. This was getting old. I thought we'd gotten past this just yesterday. We'd had a nice long discussion about how much she belonged to us.

"Have you been telling her she belongs to us, or to you, because it seems pretty clear she wants you to say she belongs to you," Alex pointed out, sitting back down at the table and beginning to deal. It had been his turn last. The rest of us joined the table, and I took a hearty pull from my own bottle.

"It's the same shit to me," I said as if that meant it should be the same to her. It clearly wasn't, but why? I didn't need some kind of verbal assurance that she belonged to us, and more importantly to me. I just knew she was mine, she was ours. Why did she need more? Then again, Bella had always seemed to need the words said to her before it became real. "Fuck it. Whatever, let her cool off, I'll talk to her about it later."

We must've continued the game for another half an hour when an unsettling feeling washed over me. It was like I needed to be somewhere and here was not it. I glanced around the table, my brothers had given me uneasy looks when I'd paused as soon as the feeling hit me. I'd been midway to dropping down another bill into the center of the table. "You okay?" Tyler asked me frowning.

I scowled at the table a little. Maybe I was more bothered with Bella's rage after all. I wanted to make her happy and I was doing a shitty job of it. "Yeah, I'm fine," I poured myself another drink, hoping it would settle my nerves.

It didn't. I kept shifting in my seat and the feeling was worsening. Like something was going on. "Would you relax, your making us all paranoid," David said irritably. I glared at him and then jump a foot in the air when Brandon had opened the door.

He was looking at me only, "something happen between you and Bella?"

"Why?" I asked confused.

He cringed a little, "you need to go downstairs then. Before things get worse."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said standing instantly and going for the door in a rush. He stepped out of my way and I didn't bother to wait and see if he answered. I moved down the stairs and out onto the dance floor of the bar. I couldn't see Bella anywhere, but I could feel her, she was in here somewhere. I would've known by now if she'd left.

I felt people glance at me almost expectantly and then I knew something was definitely going on. Then I found her. She was almost completely shielded by someone I recognized as Quinton, an acquaintance of Adam's and if there was someone more dangerous outside of us, it was him. She was flirting with him, and he had his hands on her.

"Mara, stay calm, we don't need-," but his words died as white hot fury blinded me.

I moved forward, everyone jumping out of my way. As I got to them, I tapped on his shoulder and struck out as hard as I could. I heard a resounding crack and he hit the ground, clutching his shattered jaw. I hit kicked out at him, so hard that he just toppled backwards onto the ground unconscious and bleeding.

I turned to Bella furiously and without thinking, my fist flew forward right next to her head, more or less trapping her. She didn't even flinch, she even looked triumphant. The entire bar had gone silent the moment I had gotten to them. Everyone knew what I could be like when I was angry and not a single person was stupid enough to touch me. I couldn't be reasoned with and I sure as hell couldn't be stopped. Not when I was like this.

"What's the problem?" she asked innocently.

"You know damn well what the problem is," I said icily, "what are you trying to prove Bella? How man times do I have to fucking tell you that you belong to me before it finally gets through your thick skull?"

"Oh so you can run around fucking whoever you want and I can't have a little fun without your approval?"

"Fucking right, and the girl you think I fucked is decomposing in the alley as we speak," I shouted, resisted the urge to pull out my blade and kill everyone in the room. Everyone that had witnessed her pull this stunt and kept it from me, however short the scene had been.

"Bullshit Mara! I'm not someone you can push around, you don't scare me! You made it perfectly clear no one owns you, so you don't get to own me," she shouted, shoving me away from her. "Don't expect me to keep my hands to myself if you don't care enough to do the same."

I gave her a dark look that she returned, "that blonde bitch stole my wallet when we got here and had the nerve to try and screw with me afterwards. So yeah, I indulged her a bit before I taught her a lesson. If you'd waited ten seconds to hear me out I wouldn't be two seconds from blowing up. But no, you run out and half an hour later I find you cozying up in a corner with this no good piece of shit just to get back at me."

She glared at me and as she opened her mouth so speak, I felt movement behind me. Heard it, sensed it, felt it, whatever. I side stepped, spinning and flipping my butterfly blade out and slitting Quinton's throat before he was even standing. He'd had a gun in his hand, too kill me by the looks of it. I'd cut so deep blood just burst like he'd been a water balloon, and all over Bella. I'd been out of the way for all of it. Sadly, because of his height, it had gotten all over her face, hair and chest. His body toppled over heavily.

No one spoke for a long time, not a single person in the bar said a word. Bella and I continued to stare at each other and I felt more calm then I had in a long time. "Whether you like or not, your ours and that makes you mine. Don't play games with me, because you'll lose every time. Go home."

"Give me the keys," she said furiously, disgusted with he blood all over her, but not freaked out. She seemed to handle the gorier side of my violence well. Most of the time. She sometimes commented about my taking things too far.

"No, you can fucking walk."

"I'm covered in blood, I'll get arrested," she protested.

"Then you should've thought of that before you decided to fuck with me," she hit me hard, and I took the hit, watching her exit the building before I could even straighten up again. My jaw was throbbing now, though I got the feeling I deserved it. She'd hit me pretty fucking hard too. It was a good hit.

I looked at my brothers, "kill them all."

**-xxxxx-**

As my brother finished cleaning up the mess we'd made I returned home. I'd taken my rage out on the bar and we'd each had our own share of fun. We were twisted when we were angry and I tried to satisfy my sadism when the opportunity arose and now I was completely calm. I knew exactly what was I about to.

I had no doubt in my mind Bella would've gone nuts on her way home, probably take a cab, probably killed the cabbie too. I knew it wasn't wise to blow up in front of an entire bar full of people. Emotional displays like that could be consequential for everyone. I wasn't left with a choice after the argument. I couldn't leave witnesses and I needed an outlet. Now a club would've been too difficult a venue to have gotten control of. Not everyone know me and know to keep quiet if we'd left them alive and there were too many people. I'd gotten lucky, everything having gone down at such a small place.

Bella was indeed home when I got there. Showered and dressed in fact, reading a book in our bedroom. She was in a blood red silk robe, ironic considering how long she'd probably been covered in blood before she'd cleaned off. More so that I'd spent the last thirty five minutes ripping my way through a bar full of criminals with our brothers.

I didn't care enough to close the door behind me and just moved towards her. She was still angry, and then irritated when I plucked the book from her hands and tossed it over my shoulder. She stood up, "what now?"

I moved quickly, shoving her and pinning her against the wall. "If you ever touch someone else again I will flip on you, do you understand?" her lips parted in a quick intake of breath, and her pupils dilated with a sudden onslaught of lust at how territorial I'd become. "You are mine Bella. You always will be, as much as I will always belong to you. Don't pull a stunt like that again or were going to have more problems to work out then a bar full of dead witnesses."

I didn't wait for a response and just kissed her ferociously, hard, demanding and primal. Pouring everything I'd felt in the last two days into this kiss.


	30. I Always Wanted To Dance With The Devil

**Bella POV**

We were planning to rob a bank. Everyone wanted to go on some kind of trip to Asia and we didn't have the money for it. They were drug dealers, and occasional hitman. But that wouldn't be enough to get us all out there so I suggested we rob a bank. Why not? We had the skills to do it.

We were sitting around discussing the project tonight when all of us paused for the recent news report.

"Six dead and eight injured, two of which are in critical condition at ULCA medical center. Law enforcement officers appeared on scene early this morning after two rivaling gangs had started a shoot out. The fight ended abruptly as the officers entered the building and no suspects were apprehended. Mayor Campbell and city council have neglected to share details, but we do know there were large sums of thousands of dollars in weapons, ammunition and computer equipment. The disturbing discovery leaves citizens weary that it could be related to the well known terrorist group The Pack. A nearby man passing by claims they sounded like hyenas and had red eyes, he's been deemed a false witness due to mental illness. If you have any information on the gangs involved in this evenings events contact local authorities immediately."

Adam hit the power button, all of us sitting quietly again. "You think they'll figure out who we are?" Mara asked, taking my hand and tugging me into her lap. She kissed my neck and I shivered at the cool touch, intertwining our hands together.

"They think were terrorists, if their stupid enough to believe that, they'll never figure out were just a bunch of teenagers," Chris said dissmissively.

"Still, we were seen tonight, just be glad it wasn't someone who can't be classified as mentally ill, we got lucky," Brandon said shaking his head. "We need to be more careful. Especially tonight."

"Should we check the equipment?" Mara, who was also still drawing kisses down my neck, asked at a pause.

"No, we've gone through everything twice already."

We'd all met up at a park, at two o'clock in the morning this time. There had twice as many squad cars driving around the city lately. So we had to take the roof tops to finish this little game. Each of us were standing in the corner of the park, covered by trees, standing next to a ladder to the roof of an apartment building.

"It'll take us three minutes to get there, everyone keep up, we need be out and into the car by five after," Adam said warningly, a tone that left no room for question or hesitance. We nodded, Mara took the lead and I climbed up after her, Adam following behind me. Chris was waiting to come out of the underground parking lot next to the bank. I preferred something with more of a rush, but what girl doesn't like shopping?

Mara took a running start as soon her feet hit the roof top and she flew over the ledge of the building and onto the next one. I grinned, following behind her. We all split off, taking whichever way would be easiest, or stay out of each others way, I wasn't sure. I checked the time as we hit the roof next to the bank. We were twenty five seconds late. All of us rushed for the four bags awaiting us and began pulling on the hoodies and bandanas starting at the bottom of our eyes. We'd all put contacts in, worn shoes about a size or so bigger then what we needed and thick shorts on underneath the splash pants we had on. We are incognito after all.

We all jumped off the ledge of the building, sliding down the wall at an almost lethal speed. A second before I hit the ground, I pushed away from the wall, grabbing the branch of a tree. Then let go and landed in a slight crouch. Then the rush started, all over again.

Mara went straight for the employee door, taking out a fake pass, and when it didn't go green, he tossed it to the ground, and pulled out a pocket knife. Brandon rushed for us, completely kind of stoned, "We got cops," he said in a voice an octave higher then the norm. Mara shoved the knife into the card reader and fried it. The light above the door handle went green and we all slipped inside. Mara touched my arm lightly and I glanced at her, she held up one finger and I nodded. One minute to take out security and she'd get the cameras. I'd asked to handle the security myself to see how well my training had paid off.

I moved down the hall, avoided all of the motion sensors and cameras. I went down a right hallway, pushing myself flat against the wall next to a glass display. A security guard passed me and I moved for him, I shoved him hard, and he hit the wall, he turned to me, but I sucker punched him and tied him to a railing, hitting him once more to knock him out. Then I went for the other two.

Once the other two officers were out, I went to find the others. They were all standing in a vault. They'd shoved wrapped bundles of money into duffel bags and tossing them one at a time to Mara who was throwing them through a huge whole they'd made. The alarms went off. "Shit," I swore, check my watch. We still had a minute and a half, we must've been seen, we knew where all of the motion sensors and alarm triggers were so it couldn't have been us.

"Split up and get out," Brandon said angrily, all of us nodding and dividing into different directions. I glanced back, seeing Brandon slide down the whole, no doubt into the car below us. Even knowing we could get caught I had never felt more alive.

Mara kicked open the door, it slammed against the wall and and I could see the cruisers at the bottom of the hill. My heart pounded, fear creeping in at the idea of being caught. We ran for the opposite building, once we got to the opposite side we began climbing our way up, figuring running would be easiest.

"Wow," I breathed, turning to Mara's intense expression. Her glassy dilated eyes, flushed face and awed gaze. "You feel that too?" I asked her wide eyed.

She met my eyes, and then grinned, "I feel amazing," she whispered, and then captured my lips with hers, making my entire body flare in ecstasy at the mere touch.

**-xxxxx-**

We got back to the house several hours later, having spent a good two hours up on the roof fooling around and took even longer to get home. Two helicopters had even flown over us, and we didn't move until the spot light got to close and all we did was roll under a weird thick low arch like thing. I guess it said something about our dismissive recklessness considering we were on the roof right next to the bank we'd robbed, but we were pretty caught up in ourselves.

I don't know what it was that made everything so intense. It was like my senses had been reborn or something. Everyone felt amazing, i had never felt so good, and Mara was just icing on the cake. The moment her lips touched mine it unlocked something inside of us that we'd never felt before. It was primal, raw, it was a pure animalistic need that i couldn't describe and when it should've scared me it only fascinated.

We didn't stop touching, and we had taken our time on the way home, practically dancing, and we didn't run for cover when it began to pour. It called for showers this week, but instead, Mara just pulled me close to her chest and spun us out into the middle of the road. A horn blared and we ignored it, as she spun us and then pressed her lips to my own, both of us completely ignoring the honking cars and annoyed shouting around us. We got soaked pretty quickly, but we didn't care. All that mattered was this moment, this feeling, so intense and so entrancingly foreign. It was indescribable. Like waking up to a fantasy world and it was all yours for the taking.

"It is," Mara whispered, raindrops slipping down her face as her hair clung to her angular pale cheekbones.

"What?" i asked, having completely paused at the sound of her voice. Even that was a dark mystery to me.

"The world, its yours for the taking Bella," i hadn't realized I'd said that aloud.

I didn't respond, completely lost in her voice, she always sounded so dark and so beautiful at the same time. If the devil were a girl, Mara would be the spitting image. Who knows maybe she was. "I've always wanted to dance with the devil," i whispered, and she grinned at me mischievously, the compliment pleasing her immensely. I used to want to go to heaven, just for being a good person. But Mara had this way of making me crave all the things that were bad for you regardless of the consequences, not that there really were any, not even guilt. As long as she was with me, hell, heaven, earth, i couldn't care less about where we were.

"I believe that's a sin my dear," she said amused, pulling me to her roughly, and i let out a startled sound and grinned along with her.

"So is falling in love with the devil, yet here we are," her eyes lit up as if she were a normal child during Christmas and I'd handed her the greatest gift ever.

"Angels falling in love with devils, rather poetic," she said eyes falling down over my face and back up.

"I'm no angel," i said frowning now. I was far from it. I was just a monster. Mara could be the devil with her dark charm and sinister way of drawing you in, i was just a monster. I didn't have a problem with it, Mara was helping me find piece with that.

"Yes you are, your my angel," she said simply, pressing her lips to mine softly. Instead of disagreeing i just gave into the feel of her once again, pressing my lips to hers even harder. It amazed me that she thought, i, of all people was angelic in anyway. I couldn't help but briefly wonder why before i got wrapped up in how fucking good Mara felt.

"Get out of the road sluts," an angry male voice shouted. Mara parted, holding my gaze and i watched as hers darkened a little. Someone approached us, shoving me hard and i staggered backwards in surprise. I'd forgotten we were standing in the middle of the road during a downpour.

I looked back at Mara, watching as she struck out, punching him hard in the throat. He fell down onto his knees and again, all i could do was watch enthralled, "never touch her," she whispered calmly, effectively snapping his neck and ending his life.

"Wow," i murmured, unbelievably turned on with what I'd just seen. Her territorial moments were so hot, oddly enough killing someone for it only made the moment hotter. There really is something wrong with me.

I heard a scream, and we both turned to two woman who had watched the entire scene. Mara smiled at me warmly, as if she'd never taken her eyes off me let alone just killed someone for interrupting us. She held out her hand to me, "let's go home angel."

**-xxxxx-**

Everyone was at the house when we got back, and i wasn't entirely sure how i knew, i just knew. I'd always felt connected to them, but now, it was different, more intense, more known. I glanced at Mara's stunned expression, it was safe to say i wasn't alone in this strange new sense.

She found me watching her and grinned widely again, as if my looking at her pleased her quite a bit. It probably did. She intertwined our hands, pulling me close to her again roughly, as i crashed into her she staggered back, still smiling, and then took my hand in hers, spinning us slightly. She let go of her tight hold on me, and spun me, as if we were dancing to the sound of the rain. "Mm, my rain soaked angel, how about we go crawl into bed for the rest of the night?"

"God yes," i said moaning a little at the idea. We spent a lot of time messing around in bed, but right now i was on hyper drive or something. Everything just felt so good, and when Mara touched me i swear, i couldn't breathe. When she kissed me? I saw fucking stars.

She chuckled at my response and then lifted me up into her arms and i laughed a little as she somehow managed to get the door open with me in her arms bridal style. It was rather quiet in the house and we paused in the door way of the living room as she'd kicked the door shut behind us. Everyone seemed to be waiting for us.

"What's going on?" Mara asked slowly, not putting me down but looking a little worried.

"Um anyone else get really weird tonight?" Brandon asked eyebrows raised.

"No way, you guys too?" i asked excitedly, grinning widely. I began squirming in Mara's grasp when she finally came out of her shock and put me down gently.

"Yeah, us too. It was weird, i didn't start feeling whatever that was until after we got out of the building and i was followed by cruisers," Adam said, running a hand through his hair, something i think he picked up from Mara. No one looked particularly worried, just confused, and everyone seemed to be waiting on Mara to make a comment. She looked thoughtful, as always, and she shrugged one shoulder, unperturbed but as stumped as the rest of us.

"I'd guess that there was something in the air filtering system, but that would've meant the security guards were affected by it, were they?" she asked me eyebrows raised.

"No, they were easy to take down," i said shrugging, "it was like a rush, even just a small amount of adrenaline in their systems and they wouldn't have gone down so quickly."

"Why you covered in blood?" i asked Tyler frowning as he pulled off his black hoodie, revealing a blood soaked muscle shirt and bloody hands, neck and arms. It hadn't been visible through his black sweater, just looked wet, but everyone was from the rain. He was soaked with it. Now that i looked more closely i could see small splatters of it across his face.

"I got a little excited and two idiots tried to rob me when i went through the park a few blocks away. I hard a perfectly usable gun, but it just felt so fucking good to rip into them," Tyler said, a wistful look on his face, smiling darkly at the disturbing memory.

"Mara killed someone in the middle of the street," i added, and everyone gave her a weird look.

She shrugged again, "he thought it was okay to interrupt me."

"What? No, we don't care that you killed someone, why were you in the middle of the street, and why is it we all fucking walked home in the pouring rain?" Chris asked addressing the room. True enough, we all had walked home, regardless of the number of vehicles we couldn't taken.

"I was kissing Bella, and we were in the middle of the street because we could be," Mara answered easily, smiling fondly at me. She moved towards me, taking my hand and tugged me down into her arms on the couch, kissing my wet hair and causing shivers to run up and down me at the cool touch.

"It felt good to walk home, everything felt good," Adam said after a thoughtful silence had descended on each of us, all of us in apparent agreement.

"What are we calling this? It's clearly not normal, a group adrenaline rush, I've never even heard of that," i said curiously. I wasn't bothered with it, these guys were messed up in the strangest ways and it didn't surprise me much, but it was a curious thing. I knew we would be okay, as long as we were together, we always would be. That was strange too, my new found confidence about us as a whole. I mean, i knew Mara would always protect me and love me, and i also knew without a doubt my new family would do their hardest to protect me as well. I wasn't sure if it was because they actually cared for me, if it was because i was like them, or because there 'leader' for all intents and purposes cared about me.

"What else could it be, it was some form of adrenaline, we all show symptoms even now. Exhausted but alive, we all look high as fuck and we all acted a tad out of character, which appears to be more violently then the norm. We all managed to trigger at the same time, it was adrenaline," Mara said reasonably.

"But it's not normal," Brandon pointed out.

"He's right, is this something we should look into?" Adam asked, clearly a little uneasy about the whole thing. Adam didn't like not knowing things it seemed. He hated being out of the loop, even on the trivial things.

"Nothing about any of us is normal. Were sociopaths aside from the stupidity," Chris said with a dismissive gesture.

"Something like this was bound to happen eventually," i said glancing back at Mara, "the way everyone seems to feel about one another. We've all been behaving differently, it was all building up to this. Whatever this is."

"I'll look into it, it is unusual. I could've chalked it up to each of us never having a family until now, at least not one were comfortable with or feel like we belonged to. But once Bella and Brandon came into the picture i believe its safe to assume were not your normal group of misfits," Mara said, a look on her face that said she was stuck in her head right about now. I hadn't known that Brandon was the one to appear before me. I knew Mara had met Chris first, but that was it.

"The territorial way we've become, our over protectiveness, lashing out over one another, the strange rage you two have for one another," Chris added, mind wandering as each of them thought over the blow up at the bar between Mara and i. They'd killed an entire bar full of people because they were witnesses of something we didn't want people to see. Two dozen people, dead because of me and i didn't even bat an eyelash. That's disturbing.

"Were acting like animals, like wolves," none of us commented on the irony of that. It's what we'd been known as for the last few months. The Pack. A terrorist group apparently. Really we just took no shit from no one.

"Anyone else think it's weird all this happened after Bella got here?" Adam asked as everyone turned to look at me. Mara just looked amused with this.

"I didn't do anything," i protested in disbelief.

"Please, if this is Bella's fault then so is global warming and fucking jersey shore," Tyler said rolling his eyes at Adam. "Quite frankly, i think this is great. Were unstoppable like this. I felt fucking powerful, i think this is a good thing. We should test the limits on what were capable of."

"We don't know even know what this is," Brandon said in disbelief, "and you want to go charging into the fire?"

"Why the fuck not?" Mara asked eyebrows raised, "i find this fascinating. Who knows what were capable of now. Have you seen what people can do when they experience adrenaline even just for a few short seconds?"

"All we need to do is find a trigger, and we have a general idea, danger, adrenaline junkies are kind of like us," i threw in my opinion. I liked this. It felt good, right, it made us all the more unique and different from the rest of the world. Proof that we weren't normal and that we belonged together even more. If all of us felt it, then all of us were the same. We were meant to be together.

"Great, glad we got a plan," Adam said shrugging and then yawning, "I'm getting a drink and crashing."

"I second that," Brandon said standing and following his brother out and towards the parlor.

"Let's go to bed beautiful," Mara whispered into my left ear, kissing it and then lifting me up so quickly it send butterflies exploding in my stomach.

"Good night," all four of us said in unison, and Mara and Chris chuckled before we were out of earshot.

Mara laid me down on the bed gently, falling on top of me and pressing her body to mine tightly and sending a thrill through me. She looked down at me, "so your not afraid of what this could mean for us?"

"What? More power?" i asked surprised with her weary expression.

"No, things could get out of control, and that could be dangerous," she said giving me a hesitant smile, "i wont let anything happen to you Bella."

"That's why I'm not afraid," i said honestly, and then leaned up on my elbows and pressed my lips to hers, letting all my trust for her pour into this kiss. I trusted my family completely, and i trusted Mara the most, if that were possible.

"I love you Bella," she said quietly, uncertainty in her downcast eyes. Sure we'd talked metaphors to express our love, but she'd never said the actual words. It sent my heart soaring in bliss and utter happiness hearing those words. The fact that she'd said it before I'd actually worked up the nerve only made it all the more beautiful a moment to me.

"I love you to Mara, i always have and i always will," i said, and her eyes met mine, emotions ranging from pure happiness to awe and gratefulness. She'd already said everything that needed to be said, so instead she leaned forward and i gave into her completely.


	31. Our Greatest Sins Become Our Wealth

**Bella POV**

I woke up the next morning tangled up in Mara's bed sheets, facing the wall with Mara's arm under me. I blinked, remembering the strange events of last night. I frowned, unsure of whether or not that had all been real. But it had to be, it felt real. I rolled onto my other side, laying my head on Mara's shoulder and draping my arm across her stomach. "Morning," she mumbled, eyes still closed.

"Morning," I said quietly, watching her closely. I'd thought she was still asleep. I didn't think I'd woken her up, but we all did seem oddly in tune with each other. Maybe we were in hyper drive after everything that had gone down yesterday. But even know I could still sense my brothers. Only Chris and Brandon were home, Tyler and Adam appeared to be gone.

"Yeah, were all in the same boat here babe," she mumbled, still half asleep and eyes closed. I continued staring at her, how the hell was she doing that? "Haven't I always?" she retorted, and I scowled a little.

"Stay out of my head," I hissed a little irritated.

She chuckled, opening her highly amused eyes to look down at me. She kissed my forehead, relaxing me almost instantly. "I'm not in your head, I simply know how you think."

"Right, well, before you go all psychic or some shit on me, can we get some coffee?" I asked leaning up to kiss her. I didn't get half the way to her, which was only inches away when the door opened and Chris came in, carrying two hot mugs of coffee. As if he'd read my mind, or both of ours based on the pleased look now on Mara's face.

"Morning ladies," he said, handing us each a cup. Neither of us hesitated in taking a drink. It wasn't scalding, but it was incredibly hot, must've just been made. Pain wasn't a big deal for us, we could take ridiculous sums of pain, and handling it was like testing our control. We don't go out of our way to look for pain, but we didn't pass up the opportunity for it.

"Morning," I said, lifting it up and setting it over the headboard. "Where are the boys this morning?"

Chris gave me a weird look, "your timing is off, it's sunset," Mara and I shared surprised looks. "To be fair, you guys crashed late, I mean, I still heard you two when I crashed at sunrise."

"That's all you did, listen to us, didn't get a little excited?" I teased innocently.

"You'll never know," he retorted easily, "Brandon is on his way out to meet up with Vince, business went well this week."

"Or were all about to get screwed over," I said thoughtfully. I knew a bit about law, and when drug dealers flip, they stay in the game for a while and police will more or less buy everything you get until they have enough evidence to lock you away for a long time. At the weird they gave me, I repeated this information.

"Makes sense, good catch," Chris said, lifting out his cell phone and texting Brandon, probably to tail Vince.

"Tyler and Adam?"

"Adam's on his way to see his father," we stared at him.

"Why?" we asked in unison. I knew a bit about Adam's family, mostly that they knew he was hanging out with dangerous people and they were not pleased about that. But Mara said that they were more dangerous then we were. That was hard to believe, I got the feeling that up until last night they might've been.

"His dad has a lot of questions, especially after Mara killed Quinton," both of us tensed at that little reminder and I blushed slightly.

"Does he know what we've been up to?" Mara asked warily.

"We don't know, it sounds like his father was threatening him," Mara frowned and then pulled away from me, wrapping a sheet around herself and going towards the closet.

"I'm going with him. I don't trust his family," she said shaking her head slightly.

"You said his family is dangerous," I protested, sitting up and then leaning over the bed to grab my clothes.

"Exactly, I want you to stay here, I'll be back in a day or so."

"Where are you going exactly?"

"New York," I didn't like that much, that was too far away from me.

"I want to go," I moved into the closet doorway to block her from disappearing quickly.

"I need you to stay here in case things go south with Vince."

"They can handle Vince," I argued. I really didn't want her to take off on me like this, after everything that's happening to us all I needed her close by.

"Bella I need you here, there are things that need to be done in my absence and everyone else has other business this week," I scowled a little. That sounded kind of like bullshit. Why didn't she want me with her? I recalled the conversation we'd had after I'd first met Quinton. She'd warned me away from him, and I'd asked if it was because she'd felt threatened when he flirted with me. She'd remarked that Adam's family didn't like us and that they could kill us, that Quinton was close to the family, and then added that she hated Quinton because he was a pig and thought he could fuck with us.

"I want to be with you," I said stubbornly.

"She's right Bella, after the last project we need to monitor everything in case something comes up. Adam and Mara are our best fighters, we need you here."

"So this has nothing to do with my being in danger if I go with you?" I retorted eyebrows raised, not convinced.

They both gave me weird looks for a confused moment, finally Mara spoke, "what are you talking about?"

"Your telling me you need me to stay here, but it's because there are things you want me to do, not because I might get hurt in New York?" I asked, arms crossed.

"It's just as risky staying in the city we've just robbed, more people out to get us here then in New York," Chris said behind his cup of coffee, taking a hearty drink, Mara shrugged in agreement. "Though not by much. We could all be bombed in the middle of the night for all we know. God knows everyone wants to be king."

I couldn't help the grin that broke out, "were kings?" I asked, thrilled with the prospect. She was still picking out a shirt, standing in nothing but her jeans and bra. I suppose it would bother any normal girlfriend that there brother/ best friend was sitting there for everything to see. But we'd all seen each other naked at one point and put simply, I just didn't care. It didn't bother me for some odd reason, it never had.

Mara eyed me a moment, "were _The_ Kings. Of course every ruler has there enemies," she advanced on me, lifting me up and I wrapped my legs and arms around her instinctively. She grinned, kissing me hard and pressing me up against the wall in the process. She pulled back a little breathless, "tell me Bella, how much do you like being King?"

"Well, I wont totally love it until everything is ours," I knew we'd had a few issues controlling the other side of the city and we'd more or less lost everything out there. What could I say? "I want it all."

"Then I'll give it to you, we'll take it all. Were unstoppable now," she said kissing me lightly, then leaned forward and pressed her forehead to mine, "you know, you have this destructive side that is just _so fucking beautiful_."

**-xxxxx-**

About two hours after Mara had left I found myself in the basement vault. It wasn't easy getting into the huge safe. Where Mara and Adam were the best fighters, Chris was the greatest hacker I'd ever met, not that I'd met many. Tyler was our go to guy for technology, always creating or taking apart and rebuilding electronics. Him and Chris made a great team. Brandon was more of our smooth talker, great at bullshitting his way through things, Mara was good at that too. But where Brandon had charm, Mara just scared the crap out of you. Strange to think we were all just a bunch of kids. I wonder if I was any good at anything.

You couldn't see the door, not really. It was very sensitive to touch, about a foot wide, maybe half an inch thick, and was more or less an invisible horizontal line seven feet up from the floor boards. All you needed to do was draw your finger across at least half of it and it would reveal a door at the back of the room. It was probably one of the strangest most fascinating technologies I'd ever seen them create. They were geniuses that way, which made it no surprise that Mara had brought them in. Which again, rose the question, did Mara bring me into her family because she knew I was talented in some way, or because she was attracted to my darkness? Surely that wasn't much of a talent, more who I was then anything.

I stepped through the door and it closed behind me, and the lights went on as the door closed, revealing the remainder of the basement. It was half the size of the basement, the left wall covered in nothing but computer monitors about a dozen of them all close to the same size, with two main computers side by side. On the far back wall was a huge touch screen, which had probably cost millions. It was more to play with just about anything if you wanted something blown up and you needed the entire image.

On the right wall was a huge chalkboard that spanned half of the wall, from the floor to the ceiling, the other half, in the same size was a bulletin board and continued onto the other wall to the door where it then became a dry-erase board to the end of that wall. Believe it or not, it was full of stuff.

The thing about these guys was that they didn't trust much outside of this room. It was more or less impenetrable. They'd put it together themselves, from nothing basically. Threw in another lining of brick and concrete with sheets of inch thick steal and then set up shop. It was like home base if the house wasn't already home base.

Outside of this room you saw no pictures of them, nothing really all that personal. But there were pictures in here. A portion of the bulletin board was covered in them, I counted about eight pictures with me in them too. Mostly random shots we'd gotten, and only two that I'd knowingly had taken of me. One being with Mara, her arms wrapped around me smiling at the beach during sunset. And the other was all six of us standing side by side after my first victory street race. You could even see the stars in the sky, the lights from the club and trees surrounding us. They'd worked wonders on the image to get it clear and visible for a night photo. There was one of me sparring with Adam, another of me dancing in a club with Mara. I hadn't been here long so it didn't surprise me that there weren't as many of me as there were of the others. There must've been about a hundred all clustered together. Still, it made me smile knowing that I was in there by some miracle.

Then there dates, times, initials, all in different languages so I didn't bother trying to read up on them. There was a huge map of the city up, all carefully labeled with colored pins that meant something to them and basically nothing to me. I think the purple was for places we controlled, dark purple were places we used to control, and light purple were places we haven't gotten yet. The dark green were places we actually owned. That was about all I really knew.

I moved through the room, going over to the computer and typed in a few passwords and keys to other folders. Then I pulled up the police scanners and recent reports. I pulled up anything the computers automatically flagged related to us, but it was clear we hadn't been compromised or linked to the group yet, at least not officially. I'm sure there were whispers about them, and now me. It wasn't some great big secret that they were the biggest drug lords of Los Angeles.

When nothing came up after a fifteen minute systems check I flipped our controls to Phoenix. Luckily, I knew the basics on how to hack certain cameras, the easy ones anyways. I found my way to the mall my mom worked in. She'd gotten the job about a month ago, and once I'd gotten a quick look at her, I had shut down our video feeds. Then I transferred the feeds to the huge screen in the back of the room for a better look.

I pulled up the one inside the store, and there she was. She didn't look worried or concerned, and I couldn't help the eye roll I made. It also seemed like I was doing something dirty, searching up the family I disliked with the resources of my new family. She cashed out a customer, and then resumed talking to the girl next to her, who was writing in a book.

There was a desk in here, and I found myself lifting my body up and sitting on it as I watched them work. I didn't feel as guilty as I had the last time I'd searched for her. Not that she was hard to find. To be perfectly honest I knew it was ridiculous to be guilty about looking her up, maybe it was that I hadn't told them much about home, or maybe it was because I only felt safe doing it while the room, along with the house was empty.

"Hey mom," I said quietly, the words seemingly foreign on my lips. I wonder what she would think of me now, if she knew what I was. Who I was. Probably be disgusted with me, she could be judgmental that way.

I sighed heavily, letting my thoughts drift in and out. Has she missed work because I'd gone missing? When had she noticed? Did she even care? "Endless questions I'm guessing," a voice said behind me quietly.

I let out an embarrassingly girl squeak in surprise, spinning so fast I lost my balance when I shifted over the ledge and onto the ground ass first. "I didn't know you were back," I said quickly, no doubt looking like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"I noticed," Tyler said bemused, moving towards me and looking past me to the screens.

I skirted around the desk quickly, rushing for the computers. Before I could exit the feeds, he caught my wrist gently. I turned to him, fearful, was I betraying somehow by wondering about my blood relations? To most people that was a way out there idea, but they weren't most people, and neither was I, so just about anything was possible.

"It's okay Bella," he said quietly, letting go of my hand after a moment.

"I-," I didn't know what to say, my voice had caught in my throat and I'd gone bright red, heart still pounding.

He turned his gaze back to the screens thoughtfully. "I have to say you look nothing like your mother," he commented, moving towards it and I relaxed even more.

I turned back to the screens, watching an all too familiar face enter the screen. It was Dylan, and Hannah, my supposed best friend, now practically hanging off of his arm. I wouldn't be surprised if she started dry humping in the store with how touchy she was. I couldn't help the cringe of disgust I felt at the scene. "Ex-girlfriend?" Tyler asked, having glanced back at me.

"Close, ex-boyfriend," he raised his eyebrows but didn't comment further. He reached forward, flipping on the audio and turning it up. I wasn't sure why I felt so exposed right now, maybe because I'd never been attracted to anyone, and rarely a girl. Suffice to say, I'd certainly never dated a girl. Maybe that's a reason Mara was so fucking perfect in my eyes. She was my first everything, and I mean everything, it was a long freaking lists of firsts.

'_Still no word on Isabella_?' Dylan asked my mother. She didn't look the least bit surprised to see them together.

'_No, I'm sure she'll turn up. You know how she is, always trying to get attention_,' I quirked an eyebrow, oh yes, I ran away frequently. The only persons attention I would ever search for was Mara's and I always had it, or my brothers attention, but they always just knew when I wanted to be noticed. I didn't care about what the rest of the world saw in me.

Tyler was watching me more then them though, "I take it your mom's a bullshit artist?"

"No, we're bullshit artists, she's just full of shit," he chuckled, turning back to the screen now.

'_I don't what her deal is, her birthday was great. She has, _had_, a great boyfriend, pretty, smart and has a totally hot mom_,' Hannah said way too dismissively for my liking.

'_I guess it wasn't good enough for her_,' my mother agreed, sniffing slightly as if this upset her somehow. '_Rather immature just to runaway right after I spent all day setting up her special day.'_

I felt my eyes darken and fists clench in rage. It was hard to control strong emotions, rage was one of them. Renee could always just get to me. I wasn't sure why, again, a long list probably, endless even. Tyler must've sensed my influx of emotion because he didn't even need to look at me to know it was time to turn off the sound.

"You ran away after your birthday?" Tyler asked quietly, but I still hadn't taken my eyes off the screen.

"She forgot my birthday three years in a row, this one was no different. We got into an argument. She's petty, entitled, incompetent, selfish and a long list of other crap," I said, not bothering to cover up my hatred for the woman.

Tyler eyed me thoughtfully, in a way that resembled Brandon's thoughtful look. "Would you like to get a little revenge?"

That surprised me, "how?" I suppose I shouldn't have sounded so excited, but I was.

Tyler just grinned at me now, "well, how bad do you wanna be?"

"Aren't I already bad?" I asked confused. How much worse could a person get?

"I mean, how badly do you want to hurt them, your mom, your ex," he hesitated for a moment, "the girl he's with."

"I'm not jealous," I said, once I'd clued into why he was so uncertain, "she called herself my best friend for years, and she jumped all over him after I bailed. Yeah, that gets me. Fake people always do."

"Man, where do you find these people?" he asked in disgust. I got it, I did. Even in our new world where sin is wealth, people aren't _that _bad. At least when we didn't like each other, we didn't hide our contempt, in fact, we flaunted it. Hate can be a powerful thing.

"Everywhere, just gotta know where to look, I found the mother load back home," he grinned a little, and then straightened up and went towards the computers.

"It's not easy to hurt family, even if they're not real family, or at least, our definition of family. Blood or not, it can still make you feel a tad guilty. So, do you want to get a little pay back?"

"Of course," I said amused now, going to sit next to him. He typed quickly, faster then I could keep up with, but most of the pages and files he was pulling up I couldn't recognize and he was burning through them so quickly I didn't even bother trying to keep up.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

**-xxxxx-**

In the end we'd framed Hannah and Dylan for stealing a game called Sector 13, Xbox hardware that hadn't even been finished yet and reprogrammed it. It would be set out over the internet as a free download within the next twenty four hours. We didn't make it totally obvious it was them, it would take other computer programmers a few days to track them down. But it felt good knowing that even back home you couldn't mess with me. We didn't go the extra mile for my mom, just made it look like she had a bunch overdue speeding tickets, nothing extreme.

"You don't need to feel so bad for looking them up you know," Tyler said quietly, once we'd finished my little revenge strike.

I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. But then thought 'fuck it', this was my new family, I shouldn't hide from them, and they could be the most understanding people in the world. "You guys never talk about your families, it seemed wrong."

"We all come from bad homes, B. Adam's father wanted him to be the successor of the mob he was head of back in New York, he's from one of the five families. But when Mara found him, he was a natural at killing, he was smart, and he wanted darker things, he wanted to do the things he chose without restraint. He had to be careful with his old family, they controlled his every move. Mara gave him freedom, and for that his family hates her because in the end-," I cut him off.

"He chose her over them," I could understand that.

"Yeah, don't get me wrong, he still cares about them, but were his family now. Where they're his past were his future and he's happy with us. Were all happier here, we belong here. I think even Adam's family saw how twisted he was when he killed someone. It scared his mother away, she left and never came back," _ouch_, I thought cringing, yeah, I understood that in a way as well. My father had just let my mother walk out with me, it was as good as him abandoning me.

"Brandon's family, based on what I'm told, were bigots, and they disgraced people who weren't like them, and unfortunately they're Christian," why was that a bad thing again? I was baptized, though I doubt it saved my soul. I doubt if I even had one, probably a black one. "His parents tried to drown him, when they got a glimpse of his true nature, said they wanted to 'save him'. Them, the church, Priest, everyone, Brandon had no family outside of the town he lived in and they left him no choice but to flee."

"What did they see exactly?" I asked, trying not to sound so angry and protective. That was messed up. What parent could do something so horrible?

"Well, Brandon's family needed money, and badly too, his older sister got cancer and they couldn't afford the treatment. He'd tried to convince the church to help out, a fundraiser, anything, but the Priest denied him, said it was 'God's will'. You know how persuasive Brandon can be, he practically hypnotized one of the alter servers after a Sunday Mass, to give him the church money, his father saw and heard everything. Thought he was possessed, and they treated him like any other church would. Tried to exorcize him and boy did that piss him off, he finally managed to get loose after a few days, and discovered his sister had passed away the morning he got free. He'd planned to take her and run, but I guess he was too late. Went a little nuts, tore apart their house and burned it to the ground with his sisters body in it. His parents barely got out, but he was so consumed with pain that it took a dozen people to finally knock him out and he killed two of them and injured the rest. He woke up when they were preparing to 'save him'."

Tyler just shook his head a little disbelieving, and I had to admit it was a wild story. This was the twentieth century too, I didn't think stuff like that still happened. Mara sure did have a way for finding the ones of us with quite a weird crappy past. "And Chris?"

"Chris's past is pretty unorthodox too. His family exploited his computer abilities, directed him, forced him to do things he didn't want. He would get beat pretty bad when he didn't. He just wanted to be a normal kid, you know? Go out, party, have fun. But his parents always wanted him to do more for them, for their friends. Again, when Mara found him she gave him freedom. Saw what he was truly capable of, brought him down here into the computer room and I swear the boy didn't come out for days. When he finally did, I think he was about ready to bail because he was worried she would take advantage of what he could. But no, all she did was ask him if he was hungry and why the hell he hadn't showered. I don't think I'd ever seen him happier then the day she told him he belonged here with us and asked him to stay."

"I take it we were all pretty overjoyed with her invite to live here?" I asked, heart swelling at how much greater Mara seemed now. If she could seem anymore amazing then an hour ago.

He chuckled, a fond look in his eyes and nodded slightly, "Mara gave us all family, a true family, brothers who love one another unconditionally the way family should, brothers that genuinely like each other and would die for each other. She gave us all a place to finally call home, something none of us knew until we met her. She gave us freedom and opportunity, the chance to grow, find our own happiness and to create the futures we want. Gave us a place where we finally fit in, where we belonged. Where we could flaunt our darkness and our talents without fear of being abused or taken advantage of, a safe place, without judgment and utter acceptance. She's never even influenced us, not really. Not in a negative as far as I can tell. Gives us what we needs, asks us what we want, encourages us when we do something. Honestly, I think we got lucky, by some miracle, we got real lucky that she found us and wanted us. She gave us everything, the world, and asked for nothing in return, not even our love, though she got that anyway's."

He was silent for a moment, chuckling humorlessly and even a little fearfully. Probably thinking about where he would be if it weren't for her. All in all my life seemed kind of boring compared to everyone else's. Once again for the billionth time I wondered why Mara brought me to my new home. Why did she choose me? I wasn't as broken as they were, sure we shared a connection from the moment we'd met, but who wouldn't. It was Mara after all. So why the fuck did she choose me?

"What's your story Tyler?"

"It's kind of sketchy. When I was ten I woke up in an abandoned old house, I was covered in cuts and bruises, but I think I hit my head or something, because I had no memory. I had this note in my pocket, addressed to someone named Tyler and I assumed it was me, and it was. But the rest of the note had been torn off.

"For years I had no idea who I was, and I was good at making things, sadly that wasn't enough to live off of, I was a kid on the streets and because I didn't want to be in the system, had been homeless for a few years when she found me. She needed an old used laptop that was untraceable with a specific list of modifications that she wanted kept secret. She heard through the grape vine that a pawn shop could link you up with someone who altered computers and televisions, fixed 'em up, improved them. It was me. She brought me here and basically told me this was my new home about five minutes after we'd walked through the front door, I declined and left once I'd finished the mods.

"I'll be honest, Mara couldn't convince me because I thought she only offered after seeing how I lived. A few days later the boys tracked me down and cornered me, told me Mara doesn't invite people to stay unless their unique. They didn't like that I'd turned down her gift so quickly and asked me think about it, said I belonged with them and that all of us were runaways in some form. A week later I came home and I've never considered leaving again."

"But where are your parents, your family, why aren't they looking for you?" I asked frowning, that story had endless holes in it but it was interesting to finally know how everyone had ended up here.

"We all wondered the same thing, so Chris did some digging for me. Were pretty sure that they died in a freak car accident when I was nine, they were in the driveway so it's suspected arson, no family left, both of them were only children. I was taken, well, kidnapped by the sounds of it, though I don't remember the year that I spent missing. I wasn't abused much as far as I can tell, but it remains a mystery. Until I remember more anyways, I get flash backs, but they're all from before I went missing."

"Wow," was all I could say to that, "you all sound so," I searched for a word appropriate, "I don't know, complicated?"

Tyler gave me an amused look now, "you make it sound like you aren't?"

"Well I don't have such a colorful history, my parents didn't try to kill me, exploit my non existent abilities, they aren't mob bosses and they weren't murdered, so yeah, you guys make me sound boring in comparison," I said frowning a little.

"Bella, of the five of us, your the only one that's as dark as Mara. Don't you see that?" he asked in utter surprise. "I mean, sure we were a tad twisted and more then a little busted up in a department or two, but we weren't psychotic."

"I'm not psychotic," I protested instantly, what the hell? Psycho's dont have emotions, I had plenty, well enough anyways.

"Maybe not the usual definition, but you are kind of psychotic. Your twisted, your crafty, calculated and probably almost as dangerous as Mara. Your sure as hell darker than the rest of us. Your cold to those not like you, which is the rest of the world aside from our family. You basically have no regard for human life, let alone emotion for humanity and yet you scream innocence without even trying. That says darkness to me and it's what attracted Mara to you, you two are so much alike in that way, which is rare in itself. Of the five us your Mara's biggest asset, we can't accomplish the things you give off."

"is that really what attracted her to me?" I asked quietly, "that I was like her?" I didn't mean to sound so pathetic, but it was both pleasing and disappointing. There are plenty of dark people in the world, was I not special other then looking like a good little girl?

"No, it was your scent," the fuck? This was news to me. I knew about the scents, everyone carries a specific one. "She said you reminded her of angels."

"How does that work?" I asked skeptically. "She does call me angel every now and again, I always wondered why."

"It's like your nickname, 'Bella'. You just look so good and pure, and your as dark and twisted as she is. I think she found it fascinating that you'd pulled something off after so long and she couldn't or didn't even bother to try," I frowned, and then looked away.

I knew why, it was because I'd spent my entire life pretending to be something I'm not, building up a person that didn't truly exist, and after acting and playing that good little girl, my physical body adapted to it or something. I grew into that innocent sweet look as proof. It came in handy sometimes, when I needed to play up the act to do something, to cover up who I really was. One of my favorite games. I wasn't entirely proud of how I'd gotten this look, how it had been created or the foundation for it, just wasn't something I'd ever admit to, but I wouldn't deny its advantages.

Tyler continued, either having not noticed my unpleasant expression or choosing to ignore it, "she says when she first met you she thought you were an angel. Not the whole halo, flying baby or toga thing, but more the harsh reality of them. People depict them as these sweet protectors, but they forget that they're warriors of God. Strong, ruthless and probably cold to the rest of the world like you. They get a mission and they carry it out, all the while being beautiful and entrancing. That's what Mara saw when she came across you."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but it was a pleasing compliment. At least that nickname made sense now. "What's Mara's story?" Mara had shared plenty with me, but she avoided the topic of where she came from, so it was obvious it was painful. Seeing as no one really talks about there past I'd assumed they didn't know either. But if Tyler knew everyone else's story, he most know hers right?

Tyler looked a little uneasy, "I don't know a whole lot, you know how Mara is."

"What do you know?" I pressed, I really wanted to know now, especially now that he seemed to know something he shouldn't.

"She didn't have a good life, well none of us did, but there was a lot of abuse involved in hers. Um, it's easy to figure things out once you have a name. Mara Petrelli isin fact her real name, and there were reports of a family that had been murdered in Canada with that name, the house was burnt down, her uncle, aunt and father were in there. Police think they died before the fire was started. Her mother was stabbed in the yard, and her brother was shot. They think it was Mara."

"Do you think it was her?" I asked eyebrows raised. Mara was capable of just about anything, but was she capable of this? It was hard to tell where she'd draw the line, if she ever would.

"Good question, hard to believe she could do that so young, she would've been thirteen at the time. But I think that yes, she did kill her family. A few days after I'd gone through the police records, everything disappeared. The news reports, all of the police files on it, everything was wiped clean and she never asked any of us about it."

"Wonder why she did it," I said thoughtfully.

"We'll never know, she'll never tell you B, now come on, lets go out."

"Go out where?" I asked standing as he did.

"For a drink of course."


	32. My Own Personal Avenging Angel

_Don't be aroused by my confession,_

_Unless you don't give a good goddamn about redemption, I know,_

_Christ is comin' and so am I,_

_You would too if this sexy devil caught your eye._

**Mara POV**

I'd gotten onto a plane to get to New York, so my phone had been off most of the day, and I hadn't gotten any messages or texts while I was on the plane so I didn't worry. Adam's father lived in a wealthy estate in Manhattan, so I got a rental car before making my way over there. I almost missed the auto rental place too. It was getting late and the sun was already long gone. I couldn't bring any of my usual weapons onto the plane, so showing up at the Gotti Manor with no weapons was not smart, I guess it was the Cefalu Manor now, but I'd done many stupid things over the years.

I pulled up to what I assumed was an empty house, considering no lights were on and there were no vehicles. But when I had gotten out of the car, I noticed the curtains shimmy a little. I stared at window for a long moment, and then realized what I was looking at. Very well concealed was a rifle. I couldn't tell what kind from here, but I guaranteed it was fully loaded.

I glanced down at myself, unsurprised with such a suspicious and wary on looker. I dressed like a girl with a lot of money, a dangerous smile and clothing that screamed I was up to no good. Wow, Bella, really got it right when she called me the devil. I looked like the female version. I wonder what the devil really looked like.

Brushing off the thoughts, I left the yard, going into the next, pleased to see a large tree hanging over the wooden fence. I eyed the fence a moment, knowing it wasn't wise to climb such an old thing, but did it anyways. Once I got onto the ledge of the fence when it gave way under me.

I jumped up, grasping a branch then hauled myself up as the remaining wood crumbled to the ground. I tilted my head and then began climbing the tree up to a bedroom window. I reached out, shattering it and then climbed in quickly and rushed to his next to the doorway. It was opened and again, I struck out, sending the man flailing over a bedside table and onto the ground. I'd ripped the gun from him and as soon as he turned to me, I hit him on the head with the butt of the gun. I grinned a little, "thanks for the gun."

I left the house quickly, moving for the Manor and breaching the property. There were no alarms, so I wasn't too worried until I heard a lot of padding, and growling. "Shit," I hissed, and then bolted for the house. I stopped short, when the dogs lined up, surrounding me completely. "Your in my way," I hissed at the one standing right in front of my way. They all growled, snarling and snapping at me. I glared, and then in an icy voice with cold fathomless eyes I ordered, "move." They all froze now, staring at me as if I'd someone how sprouted horns and revealed my darkness, "get lost," I snapped impatiently and they all took off scattering, running into one another in the process. Oh, I loved doing that. Animals were afraid of me sometimes, I wasn't sure why, but never really cared.

I moved along the edge of the house, peeking in windows and finally found the study. Sure enough there they were, Adam, his father, uncle and two other men I didn't recognize. Adam didn't look too happy, even a little agitated. His father was yelling at him, but I was a little rusty on my Italian and the window wasn't helping in the clarity much either.

For a moment I debated how badly it would end if I put a bullet in all of them and then decided against it. After a few long seconds of interpreted yelling something caught Adam by surprise and disbelief. Then very coldly his words were crystal clear to me, "you cannot control me anymore, and you cannot make me stay somewhere I don't wish to be!"

He turned to walk out and as he did, all of the men surged for him. I shattered the window in the chaos, letting off a single shot and they all froze and turned to me. I kept the gun trained on his father. "Mara Petrelli, to what do we owe this unwanted pleasure?" his father hissed, voice heavy with an accent, clear hate gleaming in his eyes.

"Your trying to take something of mine, and I don't like you putting your paws all over it," I met Adam's suddenly relaxed and relieved gaze, as she showed his uncle off of him.

"He is my son, you have no right here! Your a monster, and a liability. Your causing all kinds of trouble for our world and if Adam is caught then so are we!" Dominic shouted at me, thick with anger.

"Boo hoo," I said in a bored tone. "You don't care about Adam, not really. Your just worried if he gets caught you do. Then again, I can't blame you. I could get Adam in and out of jail as quickly in minutes, and you? I'd let you rot for getting in our way," I said simply.

"He belongs with his family," his uncle spat, "not a bunch of freaks who can steal a bunch of money. Your going to get caught and your bring everything down around you."

"Possibly. Adam is with his family, aren't you?" I retorted easily, a dark smile on my face when he nodded once. "There you go kiddies. Adam is ours, he always will be and the best part? He wants to be. So we have two options here. Get the fuck out of our way, and stay out of our way, or I kill everyone in this room, I can and I also wont need a gun to do it. Now even if Adam doesn't want to help, our boy wont stop me."

Dominic turned to Adam now, and very coldly he said, "your dead to us boy. If we ever come across each other's pass, you can guess what I'll do." Then he turned to me, "I'll kill you girl, I'll make you scream and beg for death," Dominic growled at me, all of them stepping away from Adam.

"You know how many times I've heard that this month? It's comical really," I said amused, and then held out my hand for Adam.

As soon as his hand slipped into mine we both jumped for the window, disappearing out of it and then ran for the car. We drove silently for a few minutes, and I glanced at him in the corner of my eye. He bore an unreadable expression, "thank you, I didn't think anyone would follow."

"I don't trust them, there unpredictable and I wasn't lying. Your ours now, you always will be, and we look out for each other," I said evenly, giving him a small smile.

He grinned now, "I know, your my family now, all of you, I'm more then happy with that."

Before I could say anything else my phone rang. "Chris, what's up?"

"Bella's been arrested."

"What?" I asked in disbelief. "Why haven't you gotten her out? How'd they even keep her?"

"Because she's not in a normal jail cell. She's being held at FBI headquarters, they found evidence of her being Pack in her car," he explained wearily, "she was also identified as the murderer of Jacob Colins and Christina Bell."

"Who are they?" I asked confused.

"Taxi driver and a witness, apparently she missed one," oh, must be the guy she murdered when I made her walk home covered in Quinton's blood. I momentarily wondered if they'd asked Adam about Quinton. "Alright, were on our way home."

I turned to Adam, "we have a problem."

_She'll suck you dry_

_And still you'll cry to be back in her bosom_

_To do it again_

_She'll make you weep_

_And moan and cry to be back in her bosom_

_To do it again_

**-xxxxx-**

**Bella POV**

I sat in the metal chair, at the metal table, with the metal cuffs on me and made a bored sigh. Two police officers stood in the room, one in the right corner, and one in the left behind me. I would've cased the room, but I was chained to the table. After I'd been processed and searched I'd been locked up in here. On the third floor and the right wing of the huge FBI building. I was a little irritable, so to keep from exploding and going AWOL I thought about Mara to keep calm. Boy was she going to be made when she heard about what had happened.

Finally after an hour of waiting the door opened, and three people entered the room, two men, and a woman. All looked very angry and held cold stares. I couldn't help the grin that broke free, "finally, horrible service. I'd like a cheeseburger, no onions or mayo and a chocolate milk shake, that'll be to go."

"You wont be going anywhere for a very long time Isabella," one of the men said, a hard almost cocky tone to his voice.

I smirked, "if you say so, but I wouldn't place my smart money on it."

I supposed I could've played up that whole innocent thing, but I was agitated without Mara around. Also, it had been a long time since I'd used the facade, months even, so I didn't know if I could pull it off. But why should I? Mara made me understand something. No amount of acting in the world, no matter how long I tried to be that image, I never would be. Not really. I would always be this girl and I should be proud of her. And I was, completely and unregrettably.

"Why do you say that? Your terrorist going to bail you out? Even if they did, don't you think they'd execute you? You were here quite a while, you could've told us any number of dirty little secrets. Everyone that has ever sat in that seat has given in and betrayed their friends to us to save themselves," the woman said, all knowing and smug. I wanted to smack her. God, how I hated blondes.

"That's where your wrong. Were not just friends, were family, and family protects each other," I said automatically, without thought. It was the truth, plain and simple.

"So your little friends are coming to get you, are they? How do they expect to get you out of here? There armed officers everywhere in here, kill them before they made it within seeing distance of this door," another cop asked, the one with the hard voice. The remaining cop was quiet, just watching me, it was a little unnerving, but you get used to the staring when your like us.

"Good question, I guess we'll find out together," I said shrugging slightly, the chains around me clashing a little.

"Those tight enough, we were worried you might and Houdini your way out of them," the woman said grinning. I rolled my eyes and she opened a file, laying two photos onto the table. The picture of the dead cabbie and the woman that had witnessed the act.

"Well they wont be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon," I said smirking.

"You think your funny don't you?" the more talkative man asked unhappily.

"I don't recall saying that, either of you have the time?" I asked leaning forward a little.

"It's time for you to talk, I'm sick of this, tell us where you and your friends live and what you want," the quiet cop burst out angrily. And here I'd thought he'd be quiet for the entire interrogation.

"I told you, I want a cheeseburger and a milkshake," I said rolling my eyes.

His response? He leaned over and back handed me so hard that it brought tears to my eyes and made me see stars. "Ow," I spit out, rubbing my cheek in annoyance as it stung and tinged red. "What the hell is wrong you? Isn't that against your special little code or some shit?" I asked angrily.

"For terrorists, whole new set of rules," the other man said grinning widely. I looked from one face to the next and frowned. No one had a problem with him hitting me. When I turned back to him, he hit me a second time, so hard it made me rock back in the chair.

"Now, if you don't want to play nice, neither will I, not until you tell me everything," he said cheerfully, rolling up his sleeves and walking around the table to stand over me.

I gave him a dark furious look, "when my family gets here, they are going to tear you apart, hows that for sharing, pig?" He kicked me.

_'Til I go blind_

_(Pray)_

_'Cause nobody ever survives_

_Prayin' to stay in her arms just until I can die a little longer_

_Saviors and saints, devils and heathens alike_

_She'll eat you alive_

**-xxxxx-**

They asked me many questions after that, but I was in a lot of pain too. Thankfully, it didn't take nearly as long as I would've thought for Mara and the others to try and get me out. I was lying on the floor, panting and in pain. I think they'd broken a few ribs, my mouth was full of blood, my left shoulder seemed to be dislocated, but I couldn't focus on that pain before more pain elsewhere got my attention. He'd kicked me in plenty places and more then a few bones were cracked. My entire body was in pain, it was difficult to pin point what exactly hurt so much.

"What are the names?" that seemed to be his favorite question, and I'd just make a smart remark and he'd hurt me again.

"What's wrong with your cameras agent Carver?" I asked breathlessly, my smirk hurting a little.

They all turned to the cameras, the usual red light was off, showing that it wasn't on, and it certainly wasn't recording. "What's-," the blonde interrogator was cut off as the lights went out.

_Jesus is risen, it's no surprise_

_Even he would martyr his mama to ride to hell between those thighs_

_The pressure is building at the base of my spine_

_If I gotta sin to see her again then I'm gonna lie, lie, lie_

I smiled into the darkness, relief flooding my like a tidal wave. Mara was here. I could even feel her close by, somehow. I even felt the boys who were further away. The back up lights went up, low to the ground and as bright as tealight candles pressed against the bottom of the walls about a foot apart.

Everyone in the room spun as the window shattered completely and revealed none other then a small girl with a black hoodie covering some of her face and a bandana over the bottom half. It was Mara. Everyone froze, and her gaze swept the room, before landing on me blood and busted up on the floor. Rage flared in them, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say everyone nearly pissed themselves terrified. She jumped the ledge of the window, throwing three blades in the second it took me to blink.

She'd gotten the two officers in the throat and eye, and had gotten the less violent of the two agents in the chest. She lifted out her own gun, letting off several more shots when the remaining officers pulled their guns. She'd shot them through the hands. She tugged the bandana down, pulling off the hood, confirming that she was about to kill them as well. "You thought it would be okay to lay hands on what's mine?" she asked coldly, eyes revealing her fury and yet looking utterly calm.

_She'll make you cry_

_I'll sell my soul to be back in her bosom_

_Gladly now please suck me dry_

_And still you'll cry to be back in her bosom_

_To do it again_

"It wasn't me-," the woman said, and she lifted her index finger to her lips in a quieting motion. I noticed a shadow appear on the other side of the broken two way mirror and saw that it was Tyler by the looks of it. He had two guns trained on the other two agents and I briefly wondered where our other brothers were.

She knelt down next to me, and I gave her a pained smile. "I told you to keep an eye on things, not get arrested," she said softly, pushing the hair from my face and assessing the damage.

"Not my fault," I said wincing.

"I'm going to have to carry you out, I'm afraid moving too long may hurt you too much," I nodded weakly, finally letting of the attitude I'd held onto.

_My pulse has been rising, my temples are pounding_

_The pressure is so overwhelming and building_

_So steady now, Freddy, I'm ready to blow_

_What is she, what is she, what is she waiting for?_

"Do you want them?" she asked curiously, eyes lighting with the thought of watching me kill my abuser.

I nodded once, and she smiled, helping me into a sitting position, and then into a stand. "Please, I have a family," the woman sobbed, pathetically.

"Yeah, and you tried to take me from mine," I said coldly, taking one of the blades from the black multi holding sheath strapped around Mara's left thigh. Damn did she look hot when she was dressed like this. Covered in black tight clothing, weapons all over her and a speck of blood here and there. She was like my personal avenging angel, watching her deal out who lives and dies on my behalf was kind of hot too.

I twirled in my hands, ignoring the ache it made as I descended on her. "Leave her alone," the other agent said, rushing me. Within moments Mara had him pressed against the wall and had broken his arm.

The woman sobbed even more loudly and I gave her a small twisted smile, "what was that about me betraying those I love?" I asked sweetly, loving the horrified sound she made.

It must've been scary seeing such a malicious sadistic look on such a sweet kind face. Then it all made sense to me. Why people called me Bella, why Mara thought I was an angel. A fallen angel was probably more accurate, but an angel none the less. I was as perfect as a monster could ever be, that's what an angel was. The perfection and beauty of a hideous and horrid monster. I was the picture of sweet pure innocence blanketing ruthless and bloodthirsty urges. I fucking loved it, and it made me shiver knowing I had this very special trait.

I heard two radios sync up, knowing they were Mara's and Tyler's instantly, "we got two minutes."

"Only two?" I asked pouting a little, not looking away from my interrogator.

Mara just chuckled, twisting the agents already broken arm and he cried out in a girly way. I grinned even more, probably a bloody grin but I didn't worry.

"I'm sorry about what we did, I should've stopped him," she said, collapsing to her knees and breaking down completely. It was rather pathetic, but I'd asked for it in taking my time.

I fell down to my knees in front of her, and she just stared at me as I raised the knife and plunged the knife into her chest. I stood up quickly, as she gasped and then gripped the end of the protruding knife. Then I kicked it hard, sending her onto her back as she laid there gasping for breath and then began coughing up blood. I'd been careful to keep it under her heart and just a tad into her lung. She choke to death on her blood.

"You really didn't like her," Tyler said amused from behind me.

"She said I would hurt you," I said quietly.

"What would you like to do to this one?" Mara asked curiously, kicking the other agents legs out from under him and sending him to his knees.

"I want you to tear him apart for me, that is what I promised him after all," I said pleasantly. The man whimpered, "where did all that attitude go agent Carver? You seemed pretty proud earlier, you aren't scared of a little are you?" I mocked triumphantly.

"Nobody fucks with us and gets away it, certainly not my baby sister," Tyler said from behind us, a cold tone in his voice.

"Please, just kill me," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Now what would be the fun of that? Mara, break him for me?"

She grinned, a mix of mischief, excitement and glad that she got to avenge my pain, and just add of sadistic malice. We really were quite similar. "With pleasure."

_(Pray)_

_'Til I go blind_

_(Pray)_

_'Cause nobody ever survives_

_(Pray) Prayin' to stay in her arms just until I can die a little longer_

_Saviors and saints, devils and heathens alike_

_She'll eat you alive_

*(I know it's a sex song, but it fit the story pretty well either way)


	33. Worry About Surviving Me, Not A War

_Everyday, every night, I wanna see you baby, staying by my side,_

_I'm goin down on my, on my knees for you, _

_For your love I'd do it, for your sake, believe I'll do it,_

_If you don't love me, why do you raise my hopes?_

_No matter what happens, I can't let you go, _

_You got it wrong, I didn't wanna hurt you,_

_I wanna be all the world to you_

**-xxxxx-**

**Bella POV**

Everything had begun happening very quickly after the breakout at FBI headquarters and everyone was looking for me like I was the devil. I hadn't killed all of those agents, not that I felt bad for them. Most people knew better then to rat me out, those that knew Mara knew me, and if I was Mara's then you stayed away. Sadly, the government just doesn't seem to think that way.

The beating had been bad, though Mara's rage when we got home had been far worse then any of us had expected. She kept me in her arms, guiding me up to our bedroom, before laying me down in the bed, Brandon entering the room a moment later with the first aid kit. We had a kit in half the rooms in the house and all of the cars. Getting hurt was practically the job description for this family. We go through supplies a lot, which is why we had a room stock piled full of medical stuff in an closet down the hall.

Mara stood with her back to us, leaning against the window frame and staring out over the backyard. You could see the city below that view, it was why she chose this room. I loved that view, it felt like it was specifically reserved for us. I could just barely make out the expression on her face.

I watched her, both of us knowing that I was inspecting her closely, as I she were a science project of some kind. I flinched in surprise when Brandon began dabbing the alcohol on my right forearm. Throwing a quick glance at Brandon, who looked worried, and I knew almsot instantly it was because of Mara's silence.

I looked back over to my girlfriend, counting quietly to myself as the seconds ticked on by. "I'm be okay," I said, unsure of what she needed to hear.

"I know," she said, a strain in her voice.

"So what's the problem?" I asked quietly, knowing she'd hear me anyways. She always heard me, always knew when I was asking her something or reaching out for her.

She pursed her lips into a thin line, a tsunami of emotions in her eyes. "Vince was our snitch, he didn't want us, he wanted you, I'm not sure why, but I'll soon find out," Brandon and I shared looks. "Chris will be checking everything out on the FBI's snitches and were going to rip them all apart. After Vincent himself of course."

"Of course," I said bemused now. Mara liked her vengeance. "How did you know it was Vince?"

"Because of this," Tyler said, entering the room with some thick papers in his hand, two photos by the looks of it.

He held them out for us to inspect them and Brandon and I both grasped one, Brandon getting medical ointment of some sort on his and me smearing bloody fingerprints across mine.

"I guess it's a good thing no one knows we live here," Tyler said a little bitterly, having passed a glance over my beaten body. Honestly, I didn't really even feel much pain anymore. It had all become nonsense, a void of sorts. Now that Mara was close by I was calmer, and with the calm came a peace that generally manages to mute out anything unsavory, like pain. Though I could take a lot of pain. I'd already proved so much. I hadn't shed a tear or any kind of sobbing while I'd been incarcerated, even laughed once or twice. Torture really wasn't their thing.

The picture was of Vince, outside of the bank we'd robbed just twenty six blocks from here. It was a long way to walk, though I'd been so distracted with Mara it hadn't mattered. Nothing ever does when I'm with her except for her. It was the first time any of us had gotten that rush, but I could see the effects the recent rush had on everyone. They'd all gotten high off of their mission to bust me out. You'd think I'd be jealous, but I was just relieved we could all share this together, like a secret. What's mine is their's and vice versa.

"So everyone was too distracted to notice him watching us," I said glaring at the picture a little. Now I wanted to hurt Vince for trying to expose us, "wait you said he was only after me, why?"

"He thought you were the weak link, that you would break first," Mara said eyes narrowing as she continued her moody gaze out the window.

"Why does everyone think I'll break before you?" I asked frowning.

"Because everyone has to sooner or later, and if were all totally honest with one another, you've never broken, where I have. People can sense that, im far from breaking any time soon, which leaves you, the youngest, the more innocent of the rest of us," she said shrugging once, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. What the hell does that mean? Then I thought back to what Tyler told me, and when I glanced at him I knew we were thinking of the same thing. Which raised the question, had Mara broken because of what she'd done to her parents, or had they broken her and she'd retaliated in revenge? I was guessing the latter. We were all pretty vengeful creatures.

"Found him, he's in protective custody," Adam said, Chris coming in a moment later and passing off another paper to Mara. She got that dark smirk on her face, the smirk that made a chill run up my spine and my gut tug excitedly. I adored that look. It wasn't hard to figure out it was a list of names, and none of them had any idea they were about to suffer a very painful death.

"Go get him," was all she said, not raising her eyes from the page, a pleased look on her face. Adam, Chris and Tyler all exited the room at once, looking just as excited to get some justice.

She turned to me, finally, and I felt my heart beat faster under this new look. Like she was about to give me the greatest gift of all. "Everything's falling into place," she said evenly, and a smile crept up on my own lips at her seductive tone. "This world wants to take what's mine, we'll show them just how bad we can be. We'll take this fucking city by storm just for challenging us."

**-xxxxx-**

_I've not the faintest idea, why aren't you talking to me,_

_I'm tryna be the perfect man, you always want me to be,_

_I'm accustomed; you're a part of my life,_

_Everything I told you honey, I've nothing to hide,_

_You're my lil angel, you're my lil star,_

_I'm still waiting every hour; you're so close to my heart,_

_All my life I've been waiting, for one moment in time,_

_Were together I adore you, I so adore your sweet smile,_

_Girl, I don't give a damn about what somebody told you,_

_I will ever be here cause baby I love you,_

_If the worse comes to the worst, I'm gonna hold you,_

_I feel you're far from believing me,_

_We walked through the world, where nobody has been before,_

_Turn back the hands of time, open every door,_

_I swear I will allay your doubts and show I love you more,_

_To retrieve your affinity_

**Mara POV**

**Present Day**

Once Bella had gone home, I called my brother. "Ah, my dear sister, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Were going to raid the house and kill every single demon blooded child in it," I said evenly, then added for good measure, "I want them, every single one of them."

"Now why on earth do you want a bunch of brats for?"

"I want to have a little fun. Say, burn down Paris, take out everyone that pissed me off back in L. A and a long list of other people. Pretty please?" I asked sweetly, feeling a little triumphant when he chuckled down through the phone.

"Alright, but wait until the perfect moment to take them out one at a time. No raids right now."

"Fine," I said frowning a little, why did he want me to take my time? Though I guess it shouldn't surprise me. He'd killed a bunch of us around the same time, a few days even, and he hated it because he never learned to control them one at a time. So he lashed out and treated them like crap, abused little pets we all are.

"Smart, will you be joining me out here on the Atlantic Ocean? I'll need you here the next full moon."

"Why you out there?" I asked confused.

"Just looking into the great mystery of the Bermuda Triangle," he said almost dreamily, which was the first time I'd heard that kind of sound in his voice. "This is supposed to be the location of the Lost City of Atlantis."

I raised my eyebrows, well I guess I knew where I was about to die, fucking Atlantis. "If you say so."

"I heard you had a little visit from your beloved Isabella," he practically snarled her name and for a moment I wondered what he had against her, but it wasn't hard to figure out. It boiled down to me I suppose, jealousy, something I was not unfamiliar with. She had my unending unconditional love and I pretty much hated the guy. I'd loved him when he was dead, only when he reappeared all it did was cause me to resent for more or less abandoning me.

"Yeah, and? I was horny, Bella's always been good in bed, sue me," I said in what I hoped for was an amused slightly nonchalant voice. Didn't need big brother getting suspicious now did I?

"Will you be turning her as well?" he asked, a thin layer of bullshit over his voice.

"No, I kind of like watching them run around with no idea what to do," I said chuckling darkly.

"And would you if I asked you to?"

I frowned, tensing a little, but my answer was instantaneous. "Of course."

"Then you better hurry, because I hear the Volturi and a red headed vampire named Victoria are looking for her. In fact, they've attacked several people from her home town to draw her in, I'm sure that means you as well."

"Victoria?" I asked confused, I didn't know anyone by that name, vampire or otherwise and I knew a lot of people nowadays.

"Yes, it was the other vision I had. You and your friends along with the Cullen's and some shape shifters were fighting it out in the middle of a winter in what looked like Washington. She died, and then you killed Victoria, which makes Isabella a wild card and twice as powerful."

"Understood, what's the time and day?"

"A couple weeks from now, take Adrian with you but keep him out of sight, think you can handle something like this?"

"Sounds like an undercover mission to me, just my kind of fun," _great_, now my plan had been delayed. It didn't matter, I still needed to figure some stuff out. Like why my brother needed me for a full moon on his hunt for Atlantis. Or how to transfer a charge to another psychic kid. I still hadn't figured that out, I wasn't even sure if Marcus had. He must've though, right? Maybe I could track down some of the places he'd stayed at. Can't possibly be that hard, right? It was only a few years ago.

I debated how to go about this properly. I had a few options, and they all started with Patrick. The pack and the other psychic kids don't seem to know my brother has visions, and clear ones too. He likes to focus on them, probably worries if I get too close to then again, but now he wants me there.

I summoned Hunter and Danielle, not a minute later they were knocking on my door quietly. Danielle opened it, looking at me expectantly.

"We are going on a little trip," she smiled widely, both of us leaving the house.

"Where are we going?" she asked curiously, always so open and questioning with me. Both her and Hunter were. I think it was the fact that I actually answered there questions and never got mad at them. Marcus was not the same. He wasn't affectionate towards them in the slightest. It's like the psychic kids were all little puppies begging for his love and attention, but they haven't realized he's an angry violent drunk or something. Who'd a thought I'd be considered the nice master?

"Were going to visit our old friends," I said simply.

"Are we going to kill some?" Hunter asked, leaning forward between the seats to give me an almost thrilled look.

"Your going to get to kill some people, unfortunately it will be red eyed vampires, not them," he shrugged, sitting back still pleased he'd get to go nuts.

_Would you look into my eyes, put me out of my misery,_

_I have never told lies; I hope that you come back to me,_

_I want to spend my time in lovin you forever,_

_No matter what happens, we must stick together,_

_Come on trust my words; give me your heart back again,_

_Kiss my lips, touch my hand, give me a second chance_

**-xxxxx-**

We pulled up to the house, and I noted at least six people were staring at us from the windows. I couldn't help the wide grin that spread across my face. At least everyone was home. I crossed the small space, Danielle and Hunter flanking me as we strolled right in without knocking. "Are you going to die?" Bella blurted out as soon as we walked into the living room. Pack, and several of the others staring at me in fear and nervousness.

"Wont we all?" I retorted easily, staring directly at her, "whose Victoria?"

She frowned, "that's a name I haven't heard a long time."

"That doesn't answer my question," I pointed out, raising my eyebrows.

"How do you know about her?" she asked suspiciously.

I eyed her a moment before flat out saying, "in several weeks she's going to kill you."

"How do you know that?"

"I was sent here to make sure that doesn't happen, if anyone's going to own you, it'll be us, and at the moment, Marcus doesn't want you," I said bluntly, and ignored the flash of hurt in her eyes.

"So you can have visions now?" Patrick asked skeptically, "because I haven't seen that."

"Because your not looking," I snapped, noticing half the room flinch and the air become thick and tense. "Bella will be going to war with the Cullen's against an army backing up the Volturi and Victoria. I would like to know who Victoria is."

"This is unbelievable. Your saying Marcus sent you here to protect Bella, when the last time I checked he gave you a fucking kill order on her," Adam said standing and glaring at me hatefully.

I grinned a little, "orders can fade with time. She'll be just fine under my protection and I'm sure you'll all be hovering around her like she's a piece of glass. You can jump in and save the day if you want. It's just us until this crap is over."

Bella gave me a dark look, knowing that I knew how much she hated people treating her like she was fragile. She was far from it, she held her own better then anyone else has the time we fought, so it would only make sense that she could do it a second time.

"Keep her with us, we can make sure she stays alive," Brandon said thoughtfully, watching me under suspicious eyes. Always watching this one, like an owl.

"Ah, so now your protecting me," I said amused, "great, I love teaming up with the enemy. Let's hit the road shall we?"

"Where are we going?" Chris asked sharply, everyone still ridiculously confused and suspicious of me.

I looked at Bella, smirk in place still, "Forks, Washington."

**-xxxxx-**

They insisted on splitting us all up, which also hadn't surprised me and I got to travel with Adam and Chris. _Oh what joy_. It was the usual traveling, private plane, cabs, rental cars, boring. nothing exciting. Even Hunter and Danielle were a little bored. I would've loved to have taken control of the plane, but that wasn't totally an option at the moment. We'd kept under the radar as we'd caused problems wherever we went. Marcus liked being invisible and he was good at it.

"Patrick told us your future," Adam said in an indifferent tone and I grinned widely.

"Damn him," I said chuckling under my breath.

"Is that why your acting this way, your afraid of dying?" Chris asked skeptically.

"Oh yes, my impending death has terrified me immensely, whatever will do," I said sarcastically, they gave me unimpressed looks and I returned it.

"Were not talking about this so pick something else to harass me about." Thankfully, they let it go, and resorted to giving me the silent treatment instead, how mature. At least if I died I'd get to see my still lost brother Tyler, I missed him so much sometimes it hurt, I could only imagine how badly it must've been for Bella, she always seemed so close to Tyler.

**-xxxxx-**

Several hours later we pulled up to the Cullen house and I waited for Danielle and Hunter to catch up to us. They moved straight to me, everyone watching us curiously, "scout out the town, make sure we wont have any unwanted surprises, stay together and keep your phones on."

"Don't kill anyone either, you'll piss off the wolves," Bella said uneasily, glancing back at the house. I could just feel the watching eyes of vampires.

Hunter ignored Bella and raised his eyebrows at me, I sighed, "fine, don't kill anyone. Bring back some good alcohol while your at it."

"Luke and I will be going with them," Chris said giving Luke a pointed look, who nodded once.

"No," Hunter and Danielle said simultaneously, turning to me for back up.

"Just do it, were supposed to pretend we give a shit about them, remember?" I shot at them in irritation. They scowled a little before they all piled into the blue Subaru. I could just imagine how badly their all going to get on one another's nerves. This was going to be a long day.

The door opened behind us, all of us turning our gaze to the vampires. "Bella?" the blonde asked cautiously, eyes not leaving me. I flashed him a charming and slightly twisted smile, Bella just rolled her eyes at me.

"We need to talk," she said, pushing through the small throng of people to get to the front of the group. She strolled straight into the house and I moved several feet back and sat down on the trunk to have a cigarette.

Brandon stayed with me, both of us sharing it in silence. "You can't kill the boy," he said finally.

"What boy?" I asked and he gave me a look to quit with the games. I pouted a little, "and why not?"

"Because he didn't know Bella was yours when they met, that's why," he said pointedly.

"And whose fault is that?" I retorted easily. "She could've easily said she was spoken for. It's practically stamped on the girls forehead that she isn't to be touched."

"There vampires, not humans, they don't get the same vibes. Again, you cannot kill the boy, we need their help right now," he said in a very distinct tone that made me smile a little, as if that would get it through my mind even more.

"Whoever said I wanted to?"

"I know you well enough to know you will kill him if you get the chance."

"I have the chance to kill him right now. You think you could stop me from torching him just on principle?"

He gave me a dark look, "it's your fault we all abandoned each other Mara. Whatever any of us have or haven't done in the period that we had been apart is on you, not us. She tried to be happy when you broke all of our hearts and sent us away. Her moving on is your fault, so leave the kid alone."

"Does it look like she's moved on to you?" I asked evenly, because it didn't look like it to me. "Does she or does not feel guilty about the two year period we spent apart? Because if she is over me, she wouldn't feel like shit for getting engaged."

"Leave the kid alone," he said after a long moment of silence.

I jumped off of the car, "I don't need to kill him to get what I want. Besides your the one that thinks I want to kill him, not my fault you don't believe me when I said I don't," I said, moving and going into the house.

The air shifted as soon as I walked into the house, I leaned against the door frame of the living room, crossing my right leg behind the left and pointing my toe at the floor. I was hoping the relaxed stand would ease the tension. My eyes roamed the room, landing on Bella almost instantly, before turning to survey the rest of the room. "So how's this little powwow going?" I asked, enjoying the reaction everyone had to me.

"We need to establish some ground rules before we come to some kind of alliance here," the blonde vampire said, standing tall. Coven leader I guess.

"Haven't you heard? I don't play by anyone else's rules and certainly not by yours," I said raising my eyebrows in a challenging way.

"if you start hurting people in town, the wolves will come after you," a red headed vampire said, glancing at Bella's wary expression to mine. It kind of bothered me that she was actually worried about him. I knew they'd overhear the conversation I had with Brandon outside, but I didn't care, again, I wasn't here about him. Though I wouldn't go out of my way to save his life or anything either.

"The little shape shifters, I'm sure I can handle them, there not so hard to kill, and there far more exciting then leeches," I said smoothly, the vampires in the room glaring at the term.

"When have you ever fought a shape shifter?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Here I thought you guys were keeping tabs on us," I commented dryly, they hadn't kept up with us as well as I'd thought. "We've tangled with a pack or two. One even managed to rip up my favorite jacket."

"You can't kill the locals, I know these people," Bella insisted, giving me a look that clearly said behave.

I gave her a dark look, "since when do you give a shit about who I kill? I clearly remember you practically begging me to let you kill a man or two."

"Because they were mine to kill," she said glaring at me, "and I was not begging."

"Your right, it was more like pleading, just with a small amount of hurt pride rather then none," I said smirking.

"Enough," Adam cut in angrily, turning to me, "you and your charges can't kill anyone without bringing attention back to all of us all over again. The Volturi and whoever else can't know were here until they are here too. We need to lay low."

"No promises," fortunately, they gave up on that, knowing my slight consent was all they would get.

After a big long discussion and both Patrick and Alice searching the future, we were finally done talking about the upcoming battle. I wasn't worried, we had the heads up, we'd be just fine. If need be, I could always call up the other dead psychic kids to help us out. They loved a good fight and were just as obedient, but a little more difficult to control. Who was I kidding, it was a pain watching over them. It was like watching over a bunch of brat six year old boys.

Then another problem arose shortly after the big planning session. I'd remained quiet the entire time, zoning in and out and staying by the window, and close enough to Bella that I could reach her if need be. My attention snapped straight to Bella's ex-fiance the moment he said, "Bella can stay in my room."

"No," left my mouth at the same time as Brandon's, Chris's, and Adam's. Bella cringed a little, having expected this I guess.

"We don't sleep, it's not as though they'll be sharing a bed," Carlisle said frowning at the instant reaction. Hunter and Danielle had even reacted, they knew there was history between Bella and Edward and they didn't want him near her either, mostly because I didn't.

"Bella is ours, if she's going to be going staying with anyone it will be pack, and not any of you," I said coldly, daring them to go against me.

"She doesn't belong to you, she's not property," Edward said glaring at me, "she can make her own choices."

"Of course she fucking belongs to us and she can make whatever choices she wants, but there are limits to my self control and I'm not going to let her flaunt her history with you right in front of me. FYI, It's not the Volturi you need to worry about surviving Edwards; it's me," I said giving him a dark hostile look, he hesitated, but didn't back down. The boy had guts, I'll give him that.

"I'm still in the goddamn room," Bella snapped angrily, glaring at both of us. "Edward, I'm rooming with Mara whether you like it or not," I smirked triumphantly, then she turned on me and the look on her face made my face drop. "And I'm only rooming with you because I don't trust you."

"Don't you?" I retorted shrugging once, game face back on.

"Of course not, look all of the shit you've pulled the last six months," she said bitterly.

"You've just made my point angel. In case you haven't noticed, your the one calling the shots on my being here right now, no one else. If you didn't trust me on some level, would I still be here?" she scowled at me and I shrugged again, it was only the truth.

"Your not rooming with Mara, you'll stay with me," Adam said, glancing at me, "she still has a kill order on you."

"What's that?" Rosalie cut in sharply.

"Nothing," all of us said instantly, everyone in the room tensing. Jesus, screw it being a long day, it was going to be a long few weeks.

"This is getting nowhere, I will know if Mara tries to hurt Bella, everyone satisfied?" Patrick broke the silence in annoyance. Everyone glanced at him uncertainly, "I see Bella and Mara much more clearly then I used to. Now that they're together things aren't as blurry. Bella will be more then fine."

"Great," I said smiling widely, "it's settled, who wants to start drinking?"

**-xxxxx-**

Bella and I were sitting outside on the back lawn together, everyone else scattered about the place. I'd insisted on us cooking our own food, because Danielle and Hunter had taken up on killing delivery boys lately. I knew they wouldn't resist, and I wouldn't tell them not to, but I also wasnt going to get into a big fight about it in their defense. They were my problem after all.

Music was blaring heavily, everyone having had quite a bit to drink. Danielle and Hunter have seemed to become rather friendly with Rosalie and Emmett, much to everyone's surprise. Quite a few of them dancing, or playing cards a the picnic table. Both Alice and Patrick confirmed that we'd have sun for a few hours before the next thunderstorm.

"I want to show you something," I said to Bella, taking a long pull from the bottle we'd been sharing. I smiled as the heat passed down my throat smoothly, warming my body a little.

"And what's that?" she asked, sitting in my arms, both of us with our backs to the rest of the world. A small cluster of trees where everyone could keep an eye on us. We were going to go for a walk when the boys ordered her to stay close by. I shrugged it off, it bothered me, but it's not like I didn't deserve it. Bella didn't like it much either but let it go.

I set down the bottle, pulling her hair from her shoulders and letting it fall to her back as I leaned around her a little. It was difficult to maneuver like this, I swore under my breath when my elbow bumped the tree as I slipped off my coat, along with hers.

I pulled out my lighter, letting it flare to life and stealing the flames. They danced around my palms before doubling in size. "Watch this," I mumbled, concentrating as I put the image together in my mind.

The ball moved my palms, Bella still encircled in them and I let them fall as the form grew more and more. "Just wait," I said licking my lips and forcing more energy and power into it.

It exploded in a shower of fire works, the fire had grown so big, several feet off of the ground above us. The new form, left over from the falling flames was a firey being, and I breathed low, and then wings expanded from her back, as if she had a life of her own now. I turned to Bella, pleased to see her awed expression, and kissed her jaw softly, "and _that _is what angels look like."

The firey angel spread her arms wide, and then spun a little, wings and arms still expanded, before evaporating into the air. Neither of us noticed the fact that everyone had turned their attention to the display of power I'd showed her, and were still watching us in fascination. Bella stared at the space, as if the being was still there. "I dont look like that at all," she said finally, glancing over at me, eyes alight with a happy glow.

I smiled at her fondly, "that's how I see you."

"You dont burn when I touch you," she said stubbornly.

"Only on the inside angel," I said giving her a hard kiss, relieved when she still returned it just as passionately. God how I'd missed her.

"I'm going to save you Mara," she said quietly, giving me a determined fierce look, that warmed my heart. It amazed that she still wanted to protect me after all I'd done to her.

I gave her a small sad smile, "what if I dont want to be saved?"

_My heart is pumping; have feeling that I've never felt,_

_But if I'm allowed to be with you, the love is coming to my world,_

_So far as I remember you was perfectly happy,_

_To find someone like me, in a world full of traffic,_

_I'll fulfill your dreams; it's not only a taffy, you're the only one for me,_

_We walked through the world, where nobody has been before,_

_Turn back the hands of time, open every door,_

_I swear I will allay your doubts and show I love you more,_

_To retrieve your affinity,_

_I wanna see you baby, staying by my side_

_Every day, every night, _

_I'm accustomed to you_


End file.
